REESE   LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA.    F 
%eceived     UXjOrr.ll              .189?,.  I 

^Accessions  No.  SOLfX  I  .     Class  No. 


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ROBERT    BROWNING'S 

PROSE 

LIFE   OF   STRAFFORD 


ROBERT    BROWNING'S 


PROSE 


LIFE  OF  STRAFFORD, 


WITH  AN 

INTRODUCTION 

By  C.  H.  firth,  M.A.,  OxON., 

AND 

FOREWORDS 
By  F.  J.  FURNIVALL,  M.A.,  Hon.  Dr,  Phil. 


-•-♦- 


ESTES  AND   LAURIAT,  BOSTON,  MASS.  U.S.A. 

1892. 


So  If  7^1 


Of    THf  '/ 

IVERSITX 


FOREWORDS 
By   F.    J.    FURNIVALL. 

Three  times  during  his  life  did  Browning  speak  to  me 
about  his  prose  Life  of  Strafford.  The  first  time  he 
said  only — in  the  course  of  chat — that  very  few  people 
had  any  idea  of  how  much  he  had  helpt  John  Forster  in 
it.  The  second  time  he  told  me  at  length  that  one  day 
he  went  to  see  Forster  and  found  him  very  ill,  and 
anxious  about  the  Life  of  Strafford^  which  he  had  pro- 
mist  to  write  at  once,  to  complete  a  volume  of  Lives 
of  Eminent  British  Statesmen  for  Lardner's  Cabinet 
Cyclopcedia.  Forster  had  finisht  the  Life  of  EHot — the 
first  in  the  volume — and  had  just  begun  that  of  Strafford, 
for  which  he  had  made  full  collections  and  extracts ; 
but  illness  had  come  on,  he  couldn't  work,  the  book 
ought  to  be  completed  forthwith,  as  it  was  due  in  the 
serial  issue  of  volumes ;  what  was  he  to  do  ?  '  Oh,* 
said  Browning,  'don't  trouble  about  it.  Fll  take  your 
papers  and  do  it  for  you.'  Forster  thankt  his  young 
friend  heartily.  Browning  put  the  Strafford  papers 
under  his  arm,  walkt  off,  workt  hard,  finisht  the 
Life,   and  it   came   out   to   time   in   1836,  to  Forster's 


vi  FOREWORDS. 

great  relief,  and  past  under  his  name.  A  third  time — in 
the  spring  of  1889,  I  think,  almost  the  last  time  I  saw 
Browning — he  began  to  tell  me  how  he  had  written 
almost  all  Forster's  Life  of  Strafford ;  but  I  stopt  him 
by  saying  that  he'd  told  me  before,  and  we  went  on  to 
chat  of  something  else. 

At  the  first  and  second  times,  I  had  the  Eminent 
British  Statesmen  on  my  shelves,  and  once  thought  of 
reading  the  Life  of  Strafford  and  asking  the  poet  to 
point  out  his  large  share  of  it  to  me.  But  life  in  London 
is  such  a  hurry  that  anything  which  gets  into  a  busy  man's 
head  is  driven  out  by  another  thing  within  the  next  half- 
hour.  Later,  my  Statesmen  volumes  went  to  one  of  the 
Free  Libraries  that  appeald  to  me  for  books,  and  I  never 
lookt  at  the  Life  of  Strafford  till  after  Browning's  death. 
Then  Prof.  S.  R.  Gardiner  one  day  in  the  British  Museum 
renewd  our  talk  of  some  years  before  about  this  Life. 
I  took  it  off  the  shelves,  read  the  last  paragraph  (p.  278 
below)  and  felt — as  every  other  Browning  student  will 
feel — that  I  could  swear  it  was  Browning's.  Let  the 
reader  judge  : — 

A  great  lesson  is  written  in  the  life  of  this  truly  extraordinary 
person.  In  the  career  of  Strafford  is  to  be  sought  the  justification 
of  the  world's  "appeal  from  tyranny  to  God."  In  him  Despotism 
had  at  length  obtained  an  instrument  with  mind  to  comprehend, 
and  resolution  to  act  upon,  her  principles  in  their  length  and 
breadth, — and  enough  of  her  purposes  were  effected  by  him,  to 
enable  mankind  to  see  "  as  from  a  tower  the  end  of  all."  I  cannot 
discern  one  false  step  in  Strafford's  public  conduct,  one  glimpse  of 
a  recognition  of  an  alien  principle,  one  instance  of  a  dereliction  of 
the  law  of  his  being,  which  can  come  in  to  dispute  the  decisive 
result  of  the  experiment,  or  explain  away  its  failure.  The  least 
vivid  fancy  will  have  no  difficulty  in  taking  up  the  interrupted  design^ 


FOREWORDS.  vii 

and  by  wholly  enfeebling^  or  materially  emboldening,  the  insignificant 
nature  of  Charles  ;  ajtd  by  according  some  half-dozen  years  of  im- 
munity to  the  ^'■fretted  tenetnent'''  of  Strafford'' s  '^ fiety  soul,^^ — con- 
template then,  for  itself  the  perfect  realisation  of  the  scheme  of 
'  *  making  the  prince  the  most  absolute  lord  in  Christendom. "  That 
done, — let  it  pursue  the  same  course  with  respect  to  Eliofs  noble 
imaginings,  or  to  young  Vane  s  dreamy  aspirings,  and  apply  in  like 
manner  a  fit  machinery  to  the  working  out  the  projects  which  made 
the  dungeon  of  the  one  a  holy  place,  and  sustained  the  other  in  his 
self-imposed  exile. — The  result  is  great  and  decisive  !  It  establishes, 
in  renewed  force,  those  principles  of  political  conduct  which  have 
endured,  and  must  continue  to  endure,  "like  truth  from  age  to  age." 

Is  it  not  clear  that  the  passage  in  italics  is  a  poet's 
conception,  and  not  a  historian's  ?  Is  it  not  clear  that 
Browning  had  thought  of  a  character-study  of  Strafford, 
Eliot  and  Vane,  a  monodrama  of  each,  which — like 
Andrea  del  Sarto,  Fra  Lippo  Lippi  and  the  like — would 
have  been  to  us  worth  half-a-dozen  of  his  drama  of 
Strafford  7  Does  not  the  fact  of  Browning's  having 
written,  or  being  engaged  on,  the  Life  of  Strafford  in 
1836,  explain  why — when  Macready,  on  May  26,  1836, 
askt  Browning  to  write  him  a  play, — the  poet  at  once 
suggested  Strafford :  Strafford,  a  man  intensely  interest- 
ing to  the  analyser  of  character  in  verse, — a  man  knowing 
the  better  and  choosing  the  worse, — but  impossible  for 
a  dramatist  who  brings  in  the  heroes  of  the  Common- 
wealth, unless  he  alters  the  facts  of  history ;  just  as  im- 
possible as  Shakspere  found  King  John,  tho'  he  could 
keep  his  Bastard  Falconbridge  clear  of  annals. 

When  I  first  spoke  to  Prof.  S.  R.  Gardiner  about  the 
Life  of  Strafford,  I  found  that  he  knew  Browning's 
authorship  of  almost  all  of  it,  and  was  convinst  of  the 
fact  from  his  own  knowledge  of  Forster's  work  and  of 


viii  FOREWORDS. 

history.  '  It  is  not  a  historian's  conception  of  the  cha- 
racter, but  a  poet's.  I  am  certain  that  it's  not  Forster's.' 
'  Yes,  it  makes  mistakes  in  facts  and  dates,  but, 
it  has  got  the  man — ^in  the  main.'  Prof.  Gardiner  had 
also  seen  a  letter  of  Browning's — now  no  longer  extant, 
he  believes — in  which  Browning  claimd  his  part  of  the 
Life  of  Strafford^  as  he  also  did  in  talk  with  the  Professor 
in  like  words  to  those  he  used  to  me.  The  fact  of 
Browning's  authorship  is  also  known  to  his  family  and 
close  friends.  No  doubt  can  exist  on  the  point,  though 
here  and  there  in  the  Life  an  *  I '  (as  if  John  Forster's) 
occurs  as  a  deliberate  bHnd.  The  only  question  is, 
where  Browning  starts,  and  whether — as  Mr.  Firth  sug- 
gests— he  incorporated  any  of  Forster's  work  in  his  text. 
Of  the  latter  point  I  am  not  able  to  judge ;  but  on  the 
former,  I  recollect  Browning's  use  of  waddle  in  his  goose- 
critic  letter, 

"  19  Warwick  Crescent,  W.,  Februajy  lotk,  1887. 

"Dear  Sir, 

"  I  am  sure  you  mean  very  kindly,  but  I  have 
had  too  long  an  experience  of  the  inability  of  the  human 
goose  to  do  other  than  cackle  when  benevolent,  and  hiss 
when  malicious ;  and  no  amount  of  goose  criticism  shall 
make  me  lift  a  heel  against  what  waddles  behind  it. 
"  Believe  me,  dear  sir,  yours  very  sincerely, 

''Robert  Browning." 

(Browning  Society s  Papers,  Part  IX,  p.  187.) 

and  I  claim  as  Browning's  the  passage  on  James  I,  p.  7 
below  : 

"  He  wrote  mystical  definitions  of  the  prerogative,  and 
polite  *  Counterblasts  to  Tobacco ' ;  issued  forth  dam- 


FOREWORDS.  ix 

nation  to  the  deniers  of  witchcraft,  and  poured  out  the 
wrath  of  the  Apocalypse  upon  popery ;  but  whenever  an 
obvious  or  judicious  truth  seemed  likely  to  fall  in  his 
way,  his  pen  infallibly  waddled  off  from  it." 

On  p.  6,  I  think  this  opinion  of  James  I  is  also 
Browning's  :  "He  was  not  an  absolute  fool,  and  little 
more  can  be  said  of  him."  Also,  above  it,  "  He  came 
to  this  country  in  an  ecstasy  of  infinite  relief"  strikes  me 
as  Browning's  and  not  Forster's ;  and  I  suppose  that 
Browning  started  with  the  second  paragraph  on  p.  6. 
"James  I  had  many  reasons  to  be  weary  of  his  own 
kingdom,"  &c. 

Other  pieces  that  I  think  like  Browning  are  the 
sentence  (with  quotations)  3  pages  long  on  p.  69-71, 
from  In  one  and  the  same  day.,  to  laugh  together ;  that  of 
nearly  a  page,  241-2,  from  "  It  was  well  and  beautifully 
said  "  to  "  a  different  devotion ; "  pages  60-4  with  the 
"divers  ill-spelt^  and  solemn  sillinesses  from  the  king," 
the  "  prism  of  Circumstance  "  and  the  reference  to 
the  Ezzelin  of  Sordello,  which  Browning  had  set  aside 
to  write  this  Life  and  his  play  of  Strafford — what  had 
Forster  to  do  with  Ezzelin  ? — the  discussion  of  Strafford's 
character,  and  his  "  fatal  liking  for  the  weak  and  un- 
worthy king  "  ;  p.  124-6,  with  their  "  pick-thank  chuckle 
of  old  good-humour,"  their 

"  Pleasure  was  a  Silenus  in  the  court  of  James.  In 
that  of  Charles  the  Second,  it  was  a  vulgar  satyr.     Under 

^  Later  printers'  readers  would  have  uniformd  this  into 
'spelled,'  as  they've  done  'burnt,'  'dipt,' into  'burned,'  'dipped,' 
&c.  When  will  one,  more  consistent  than  his  fellows,  turn  '  Jesus 
W(f^/,'  into  weeped?  'Leapt'  has  past  into  'leaped,'  &c.  The 
British  public  follow  their  blind  guides  into  the  ditch. 


X  FOREWORDS. 

Charles  the  First,  it  was  still  of  the  breed,  but  it  was  a 
god  Pan,  and  the  muses  piped  among  his  nymphs.  .  .  . 
As  nine-tenths  of  common  gallantry  is  pure  vanity,  so  a 
like  proportion  of  the  graver  offence  of  deliberate  seduc- 
tion is  owing  to  pure  will  and  the  love  of  power, — the 
love  of  obtaining  a  strong  and  sovereign  sense  of  an 
existence  not  very  sensitive,  at  any  price  to  the  existence 
of- another"  (p.  125). 

"  It  is  a  vulgar  spirit  only  that  can  despise  a  woman 
for  making  no  remonstrances  ;  and  a  brutal  one,  that  can 
ill-treat  her  for  it.  A  heart  with  any  nobleness  left  in  it, 
keeps  its  sacredest  and  dearest  corner  for  a  kindness  so 
angelical "  (p.  126). 

But  I  should  weary  the  reader  if  I  extracted  bits  in 
which  I  see  Browning's  touch,  on  pages  21,  30,  49,  59, 
84-5,  116,  143,  144,  149,  158,  162,  207,  228-9,  230,  236 
and  the  whole  close  of  the  volume.  I  however  note  that 
Browning  owed  much  to  Donne,  and  that  he  mentions 
Strafford's  care  for  that  poet  too  : 

"The  soul  of  the  earl  of  Strafford  was  indeed  lodged, 
to  use  the  expression  of  his  favourite  Donne,  within  a 
Mow  and  fatal  room'  (p.  228).  "But  ever  by  the  side 
of  the  body's  weakness  we  find  a  witness  of  the  spirit's 
triumph, — a  vindication  of  the  mightiness  of  will  !  "  (p. 
229).  "Then,  when  every  energy  was  to  be  taxed  to  the 
uttermost,  the  question  of  his  fiery  spirit's  supremacy  was 
indeed  put  to  the  issue,  by  a  compHcation  of  ghastly 
diseases  !  "  (p.  230). 

There  are  also  bits  of  analysis  and  philosophizing  on 
character  which  are  surely  Browning's  ;  and  above  all 
there  are  the  conception  and  working  out  of  the  per- 
sonality and  character  of  Strafford,  "  that  he  was  con- 
sistent to  himself  throughout  "  (p.  60  at  foot),  that  his  one 
object  was  to  make  Charles  "the  most  absolute  lord  in 


FOREWORDS.  xi 

Christendom,"  and  that  this  explains  all  apparent  incon- 
sistencies and  vanities  in  his  conduct.  The  Life  also 
seems  to  me  written  by  a  man  who  did  not  know  the 
period  thoroughly,  and  did  not  work  the  details  of  con- 
temporary history  into  it  as  a  historian  familiar  with  them 
would  have  done.  It  is  the  work  of  a  poet-analyser  of 
a  statesman's  character,  rather  than  a  historian's  picturing 
of  him  in  his  own  time  and  surroundings. 

The  present  reprint  is  due  to  Mr.  Dana  Estes,  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Boston  Browning  Society.  Both  Messrs.  Smith 
&  Elder,  and  Messrs.  Longmans  (whose  firm  publisht 
the  original  edition  of  1836  in  Lardner's  Cabinet  Cyclo- 
pcedia)  declined  to  reprint  the  Life  of  Strafford.  Mr. 
Dana  Estes  is  head  of  the  firm  of  Estes  and  Lauriat  in 
Boston,  U.S.A.,  and  had  seen  a  reproduction  of  my 
letter  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  of  April  12,  1890,  claim- 
ing the  work  for  Browning.  He  wrote  to  me  that  his 
firm  would  share  the  cost  of  the  reprint  with  any  other 
publisher  if  I  could  find  one.  I  accepted  his  offer  on 
behalf  of  the  Browning  Society,  and  agreed  that  none  of 
its  copies  should  be  sent  for  sale  to  the  United  States. 
It  was  of  course  necessary  to  have  the  book  up  to  date, 
and  to  get  the  views  of  a  modern  historian  on  it  and 
Strafford.  Prof.  S.  R.  Gardiner  and  Mr.  C.  H.  Firth  of 
Oxford  are  the  acknowledged  authorities  on  the  period  ; 
and  as  Prof.  Gardiner  was  too  busy  and  also  felt 
somewhat  bound  by  Browning's  desire  that  he  should  not 
make  B.'s  authorship  public,  Mr.  Firth  most  kindly  under- 
took to  write  the  Introduction  needed  for  the  Life^  and 
compile  us  a  table  of  the  chief  dates  and   events  in 


xii  FOREWORDS. 

Strafford's  career.  (The  reader  will  notice  how  few  dates 
Browning,  poet-like,  has  given.)  Mr.  Firth  also  suggested 
the  addition  of  an  Appendix  II  of  the  chief  fresh  Letters 
and  documents  of  and  about  Strafford,  which  Prof. 
Gardiner  and  others  have  printed  of  late  years.  Our 
London  and  Boston  Browning  Societies  are  greatly  in- 
debted to  Mr.  Firth  for  his  valuable  help,  and  all 
Browning  students  will  thank  him  for  his  contribution 
to  this  book.  They  will  also  feel  grateful  to  our  member 
Mr.  Benjamin  Sagar,  for  his  famously  full  Index. 

3  St.  George's  Sqr.  London,  N.  W. 
26  Novembe)',  1890. 


INTRODUCTION 
By  C.  H.  firth. 

FoRSTER  in  the  life  of  Eliot,  which  he  published  in 
1836,  quotes  a  few  lines  from  a  poet,  "whose  genius," 
he  says,  *'  has  just  risen  amongst  us."  In  a  footnote 
he  explains  that  the  writer  of  the  verses  is  "  the  author 
of  Paracelsus,  Mr.  Robert  Browning.  There  would  be 
little  danger  in  predicting  that  this  writer  will  soon  be 
acknowledged  as  a  first-rate  poet.  He  has  already  proved 
himself  one."  ^  Under  what  circumstances  it  was  that 
Browning  undertook  to  write  the  life  of  Strafford  for  his 
friend  Forster,  Dr.  Furnivall  explains  in  his  'Forewords.' 
A  biography  written  under  such  conditions  naturally 
shows  occasional  traces  of  haste  and  incompleteness. 
Moreover,  the  evidence  at  the  disposal  of  a  biographer 
in  1836  was  in  many  respects  defective;  and  time  has 
brought  to  light  so  many  new  facts  and  new  documents 
that  there  is  much  to  add  to  any  life  of  Strafford  written 
so  long  ago,  and  something  to  correct  in  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  even  in  1836  a  biographer  of 
Strafford  had  a  larger  amount  of  information  at  his  dis- 
posal than  in  the  case  of  any  other  statesman  of  the 
1  British  Statesmen,  vol.  ii.  p.  104, 


xW  INTRODUCTION. 

seventeenth  century.  The  article  in  Biographia  Britan- 
nicay  and  the  life  in  Macdiarmid's  British  Statesmen, 
supplied  Browning  with  two  tolerably  full  and  careful 
accounts  of  Straiford's  career.  He  had  also  Sir  George 
Radcliffe's  invaluable  memoir  of  his  friend,  and  the 
admirable  selection  from  Strafford's  letters  published 
by  Dr.  Knowler  in  1739.  Of  this  last  Browning 
observes  :  "The  collection  of  documents  known  by  the 
title  of  the  Strafford  papers,  seems  to  me  to  contain  with- 
in itself  every  material  necessary  to  the  illustration  of 
the  public  and  private  character  of  this  statesman,  on  an 
authority  which  very  few  will  be  disposed  to  contest,  for 
the  record  is  his  own.  .  .  .  Hereafter  I  mean  to  restrict 
myself  almost  entirely  to  the  authorities,  illustrations,  and 
suggestions  of  character,  that  are  so  abundantly  furnished 
by  that  great  work." 

Evidently  the  subject  which  from  the  first  attracted 
Browning  was  Strafford's  character  rather  than  his  career. 
Unlike  some  biographers,  he  does  not  treat  his  hero 
merely  as  one  of  a  series  of  statesmen,  and  confine 
himself  to  his  public  life,  "as  if  the  shop  were  all  the 
house."  He  is  interested  in  every  aspect  of  Strafford's 
life,  and  every  side  of  his  character.  He  shows  us  what 
sort  of  a  husband  and  father  he  was,  and  how  faithful 
a  friend.  He  describes  his  daily  habits,  his  recreations, 
and  his  tastes.  He  brings  out  his  fondness  for  fishing, 
hawking,  and  hunting,  as  well  as  his  love  of  art  and 
poetry. 

Browning's  conception  of  biography  is  further  illus- 
trated by  the  passage  in  which  he  discusses  Strafford's 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

desertion  of  the  popular  party.  The  supposition  of  a 
sudden  and  complete  change  in  any  man's  character 
is  dismissed  with  a  touch  of  scorn.  He  seeks  to  dis- 
cover, what  Pope  would  have  called  "  the  ruling  prin- 
ciple "  of  Strafford's  character,  or  "the  law  of  his  being," 
as  Browning  prefers  to  term  it — and  finds  in  it  the  key 
to  his  political  conduct.  He  demands  from  his  hero 
fidelity  to  his  own  nature,  not  constancy  to  one  party 
or  one  set  of  opinions.  He  requires,  in  a  word,  not 
political  but  dramatic  consistency.  "  What  it  is  desired 
to  impress  upon  the  reader  before  the  delineation  of 
Wentworth  in  his  after  years,  is  this — that  he  was  con- 
sistent to  himself  throughout."  ^  Unhappily,  the  execu- 
tion of  the  design  falls  short  of  the  conception.  Phrases 
such  as  "the  development  of  the  aristocratic  principle," 
and  "the  intensity  of  the  aristocratic  principle,"  hardly 
furnish  the  required  explanation  of  Strafford's  conduct.  ^ 
His  political  career  is  not  treated  with  the  freedom  from 
prejudice  which  seemed  to  be  promised.  Strafford  is 
judged  too  much  by  the  standards  of  1832,  and  too  little 
by  the  standards  of  1632.  To  this  result,  the  want  of 
evidence  about  Strafford's  earlier  career,  and  an  insufficient 
acquaintance  with  the  conditions  and  ideas  of  his  time, 
also  contributed.  Browning  himself  seems  to  have  been 
scarcely  satisfied  with  his  own  portrait  of  Strafford.  It 
is  curious  to  contrast  the  biography  with  the  play  written 
a  year  later.  One  might  almost  say  that  in  the  first 
Strafford  was  represented  as  he  appeared  to  his  oppo- 
nents, and  in  the  second  as  he  appeared  to  himself; 
1  Pp.  60,  278.  2  pp,  2^  4^  5^^ 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

or  that,  having  painted  Strafford  as  he  was,  Browning 
painted  him  again  as  he  wished  to  be.  In  the  biography 
Strafford  is  exhibited  as  a  man  of  rare  gifts  and  noble 
quaUties ;  yet  in  his  political  capacity,  merely  the  con- 
scious, the  devoted  tool  of  a  tyrant.  "  In  him  Despotism 
at  length  obtained  an  instrument  with  mind  to  com- 
prehend and  resolution  to  act  upon  her  principles  in  their 
length  and  breadth."  ^ 

In  the  tragedy,  on  the  other  hand,  Strafford  is  the 
champion  of  the  King's  will  against  the  people's,  but 
yet  looks  forward  to  the  ultimate  reconciliation  of 
Charles  and  his  subjects,  and  strives  for  it  after  his  own 
fashion.  He  loves  the  master  he  serves,  and  dies  for 
him,  but  when  the  end  comes  he  can  proudly  answer  his 
accusers,  "  I  have  loved  England  too." 

It  seems  as  if  the  play  were  written  to  supplement  and 
correct  the  biography.    Each  contains  a  part  of  the  truth. 

To  judge  Strafford  fairly  and  to  represent  him  truly, 
we  have  to  take  into  account  what  he  aimed  at,  as  well 
as  what  he  achieved,  and  to  consider  his  political  creed 
in  close  relation  to  the  conditions  of  his  time,  and  the 
ideas  of  his  contemporaries. 

From  the  outset  of  his  career,  Wentworth  sought  em- 
ployment in  the  service  of  the  State,  or  as  he  would  have 
expressed  it  "  the  Commonwealth."  It  was  not  only  the 
desire  for  credit  and  influence  in  his  native  country,  which 
led  him  to  seek  office,  nor  was  it  simply  his  "abstract 
veneration  for  power."  ^  It  was  also,  as  he  says  in  his 
defence,  the  "  chaste  ambition  ...  to  have  as  much 
1  P.  278.  3  P.  64. 


INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

power  as  may  be,  that  there  may  be  power  to  do  the 
more  good  in  the  place  where  a  man  lives."  ^  Eager  to 
promote  the  public  weal,  he  rejoiced  in  the  labours  it 
demanded.  He  describes  himself  truly,  as  "  ever  desiring 
the  best  things,  never  satisfied  I  had  done  enough, 
but  did  always  desire  to  do  better."  ^  In  the  service  of 
the  State  alone  could  such  a  man  find  full  scope  for 
his  energies,  and  from  the  King's  commission  alone 
could  he  obtain  the  authority  his  aims  required.  He 
had  grown  up  under  the  influence  of  the  Elizabethan 
traditions,  and  looked  to  the  monarchy,  not  to  the  people, 
as  the  source  of  authority ;  to  the  King,  not  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, as  the  natural  ally  of  a  reformer. 

Wentworth  represented  Yorkshire  in  the  Parliament  of 
1 6 14.  In  December  161 5  he  was  made  Gustos  Rotulorum 
for  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  and  as  such,  first  in 
the  Commission  of  Peace  for  that  district.  On  July  loth, 
1 619,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the 
North.  In  1620,  at  the  desire  of  the  Government  he 
again  stood  for  Yorkshire,  and  used  his  local  influence 
to  secure  the  return  of  Sir  George  Calvert,  one  of  the 
Secretaries  of  State,  as  his  colleague.  He  seemed  marked 
out  for  the  King's  favour,  and  in  1621,  the  newsletters 
predicted  his  approaching  elevation  to  the  peerage,  and 
even  reported  that  he  would  take  the  title  of  Viscount 
Raby.3 

At  this  moment,  however,  Went  worth's  rise  came 
to   a   stop.      During   the   Parliament   of   162 1    he   had 

^  Rushworth,  Trial  of  Strafford,  p.  146.  ^   Trial,  p.  16 1. 

3   Court  and  Times  of  James  /.,  i.  169,  285. 

I? 


X  viii  INTR  OD  UC  TION. 

wavered  in  his  support  of  the  Government.  His  attitude 
was  conciliatory  throughout.  He  supported  the  King's 
demand  for  a  subsidy  for  the  defence  of  the  Palatinate. 
In  language  which  recalls  his  later  utterances,  he  urged 
the  Commons  not  to  seek  ''  to  capitulate  with  the 
King,"  to  "consider  of  the  King  and  people  together 
and  indivisibly,"  to  avoid  "leaving  a  kind  of  misunder- 
standing between  the  King  and  his  people."  But 
anxious  as  he  was  to  press  on  with  practical  legis- 
lation, and  to  prevent  barren  disputes  about  privileges, 
he  could  not  quietly  submit  to  the  King's  denial  of 
freedom  of  speech  to  Parliament.  ''Sir  Thomas  Went- 
worth,"  says  the  reporter  ..."  would  have  us  stand  on 
it  that  our  privileges  are  our  right  and  our  inheritance." 
Vexed  also  by  the  sudden  dissolution  which  followed  the 
protest  of  the  Commons,  he  was  yet  far  from  any  thought 
of  active  opposition,  and  still  aimed  at  office.  The  path 
was  more  difficult,  but  "  with  patience,  circumspection, 
and  principally  silence,"  it  might  still  be  passed.  ^ 

Silence  was  Wentworth's  resource  throughout  the 
debates  of  the  Parliament  of  1624.  The  nation  was 
eager  for  war,  and  Buckingham  seized  the  opportunity 
to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  movement.  Unmoved 
himself  by  the  popular  feeling,  Wentworth  knew  that  it 
was  useless  to  struggle  against  it.  His  own  views  on 
European  politics  were  uninfluenced  by  religious  con- 
siderations, and  he  cared  little  for  the  fate  of  the  German 
Protestants.  He  had  no  share  in  the  Puritan  antipathy 
to  Spain,  and  scoffed  at  the  exultation  with  which  "all 
^  Letters,  i.  19. 


INTRODUCTION.  xix 

the  cobblers  and  bigots  and  zealous  brethren"  of 
London  hailed  the  dismissal  of  the  Spanish  ambassa- 
dor.i  For  dynastic  reasons  he  desired  the  restoration 
of  the  Prince  Palatine,  but  he  would  have  sought  it  by 
diplomatic  means  only.  The  King  of  England,  he  held, 
was  bound  neither  in  justice  nor  honour  to  venture  his 
people's  prosperity  for  the  recovery  of  the  Palatinate. 
In  1637,  King  Charles  thought  of  going  to  war  with 
Spain  for  that  purpose,  and  asked  Wentworth's  opinion 
on  the  question.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
principles  which  dictated  his  answer  then  guided  his 
conduct  now.  *'The  first  consideration  ariseth,  whether 
this  war  tends  in  any  sort  to  the  wealth  or  safety  of  the 
crown  of  England,  or  not  rather  to  the  decay  of  trade, 
and  losing  the  greatest  entrance  to  the  enlargement 
thereof  that  hath  of  many  years  been  opened  unto  us, 
whilst  those  two  great  monarchs  of  France  and  Spain 
are  now  at  odds,  the  commodities  and  commerce  con- 
sequently of  both,  of  necessity  to  pass  through  our 
merchants,  to  their  mighty  enriching,  to  the  extreme 
improvement  of  the  customs,  and  the  great  increase  of 
shipping."  Instead  of  rushing  on  "  the  bleeding  evil 
of  an  instant  and  active  war,"  let  the  King  turn 
his  attention  homewards,  and  seek  first  the  welfare 
of  England.^  The  advice  which  Wentworth  gave  in 
1637,  he  would  have  given  in  1624  also.  Consistently 
insular  in  his  view  of  foreign  politics,  he  was  anxious  to 
avoid  interference  in  continental  struggles,  eager  to 
amend  laws,  to  redress  grievances,  and  to  "do  the 
^  Letters^  i.  21.  ^  Letters,  ii.  60,  62. 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

business  of  the  Commonwealth."  As  a  member  of  the 
Parliament  of  1625,  he  neither  attacked  Buckingham 
personally,  nor  refused  the  subsidies  the  King  de- 
manded, but  allowed  his  dissatisfaction  with  their  policy 
to  be  clearly  seen.  As  yet  he  was  scarcely  numbered 
with  the  opposition.  The  King  still  styled  him  "  an 
honest  gentleman,"  and  if  Buckingham  by  a  trick 
excluded  him  from  the  Parliament  of  1626,  it  was 
sedulously  excused  as  an  accident.  Wentworth  submitted 
quietly  to  his  exclusion  from  Parliament.  "It  was 
better,"  he  declared,  "to  be  a  spectator  than  an  actor," 
and  he  announced  his  resolve  not  to  contest  with  the 
King  unless  he  were  constrained  thereto. 

It  is  significant  that  at  this  very  time  he  applied 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  Council  of  the  North.^ 
Other  motives  no  doubt  besides  ambition  led  him  to 
desire  it.  Serving  the  King  in  the  parts  where  he 
lived,  he  could  keep  out  of  the  sterile  constitutional 
struggles  in  Parliament,  and  avoid  all  responsibility  for 
the  foreign  policy  of  which  he  disapproved.  His  appli- 
cation was  made  almost  directly  to  Buckingham,  was 
followed  by  explanations,  and  ended  in  a  promise  of 
friendship.  Buckingham,  however,  would  tolerate  no 
neutrals  amongst  his  friends,  and  required  active  support. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  Wentworth's  refusal  to  take 
part  in  the  collection  of  the  forced  loan  of  1626  was 
the  cause  of  his  dismissal  from  the  dignity  of  Custos 
Rotulorum,  and  from  his  other  official  posts.  His 
further  refusal  to  subscribe  to  that  loan  himself  was 
^  Appendix,  p.  290. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxi 

followed  by  imprisonment  in  the  Marshalsea  and  at 
Dartford.  How  reluctantly  Wentworth  exchanged  the 
attitude  of  "  cold,  silent  forbearance,"  for  the  "  active 
heat "  of  opposition  his  conduct  shows.  His  refusal  to 
pay  was  courteous,  his  bearing  at  the  Council-board 
firm  but  conciliatory.!  It  is  evident  from  his  letters  to 
Weston  that  he  regarded  himself  as  personally  attacked 
by  Buckingham,  and  as  the  victim  of  a  breach  of  faith 
on  the  part  of  the  favourite.  Immediately  he  was  dis- 
missed he  sought  to  represent  his  fidehty  to  the  King, 
complained  that  he  had  been  maliciously  misrepresented 
to  his  Majesty,  and  expressed  the  hope  of  presenting 
hereafter  "  more  ripe  and  pleasing  fruits  of  my  labours  in 
his  service." 

Thus  personal  and  political  motives  alike  combined  to 
make  Wentworth  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Opposition 
during  the  first  session  of  the  Parliament  of  1628.  Yet 
fiercely  as  he  attacked  the  King's  ministers,  he  was 
careful  to  exonerate  the  King.  ''This  hath  not  been 
done  by  the  King  .  .  .  but  by  projectors,"  is  the  con- 
clusion of  his  catalogue  of  grievances.  Vehement  though 
his  language  was,  it  was  evident  that  he  sought  to  heal, 
not  to  widen,  the  breach  between  Charles  and  England. 
**  Whether  we  shall  look  upon  the  King  or  his  people,  it 
did  never  more  behove  this  great  physician  the  parlia- 
ment, to  effect  a  true  consent  amongst  the  parties  than 
now."  Sovereign  and  subject  alike  had  suffered  by 
Buckingham's  policy.  "Both  are  injured;  both  to  be 
cured.  .  .  By  one  and  the  same  thing  hath  the  King 
^  Appendix,  p.  291. 


xxii  INTR  on  UC  TION. 

and  people  been  hurt.  .  .  I  speak  truly  both  for  the 
interest  of  the  King  and  people."  The  remedy  he 
proposed  was  *'no  new  thing,"  no  transfer  of  power 
from  King  to  Parliament,  but  simply  the  reinforcement 
of  the  ancient  laws  by  a  new  law  to  provide  security  from 
arbitrary  imprisonment,  and  freedom  from  arbitrary 
taxation.  Instead  of  the  Petition  of  Right  with  its 
recital  of  past  illegalities  he  advocated  a  statute  to 
decide  what  should  be  legal  in  the  future,  to  fix  the 
limits  of  the  subject's  liberty  and  the  Crown's  prerogative, 
and  to  lay  the  foundation  of  future  union  between  King 
and  people.  That  done  he  was  willing  to  leave  the 
King  a  discretionary  power  to  use  in  cases  of  emergency. 
*'  Let  us  make  what  laws  we  can,  there  must — nay,  there 
will  be — a  trust  left  in  the  Crown." 

Between  the  refusal  of  the  Commons  to  allow  for 
exceptions,  and  the  reluctance  of  the  King  to  submit 
to  rules,  Wentworth's  reconciling  scheme  fell  to  the 
ground.  Other  leaders  seized  the  direction  of  the 
House,  and  sought  to  impose  more  rigid  restrictions  on 
the  Crown.  It  was  not  without  expressing  some  misgiv- 
ings that  Wentworth  supported  the  Petition  of  Right. 
*'I  have  discharged  my  conscience  and  delivered  it. 
Do  as  you  please.  God,  that  knows  my  heart,  knows 
that  I  have  studied  to  preserve  this  Parliament,  as  I 
confess  the  resolutions  of  this  House,  in  the  opinion  of 
wise  men,  stretch  very  far  on  the  King's  power,  and  if 
they  be  kept  punctually  will  give  a  blow  to  Government." 
The  struggle  for  the  Petition  of  Right  was  long  and 
bitter,  and  if  its  acceptance  removed  the  grievances  of 


INTROD  UC  TION.  xxiii 

which  Wentvvorth  had  complained,  it  did  not  bring  back 
the  good  understanding  which  his  plan  had  aimed  at 
restoring.  He  saw  new  subjects  of  dispute  arise,  and 
religious  grievances  with  which  he  had  no  sympathy 
came  to  the  front.  With  the  failure  of  his  leadership 
his  part  in  the  struggle  was  over,  and  there  was  nothing 
now  to  prevent  him  from  seeking  again,  as  he  sought  in 
1626,  to  serve  the  King  in  the  parts  where  he  lived. 

On  July  22nd,  1628,  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage,  and 
on  Dec.  loth  became  President  of  the  Council  of  the 
North.  Buckingham's  death  (Aug.  23rd,  1628)  opened 
the  way  to  further  promotion.  On  Nov.  loth,  1629,  he 
entered  the  Privy  Council,  and  became  Lord  Deputy  of 
Ireland  in  January  1632. 

As  Browning  observes,  "  much  good  wrath  "  has  been 
thrown  away  on  political  apostacies.^  What  really  re- 
quires explanation  is  not  why  Wentworth  left  the 
ranks  of  the  Opposition,  but  how  he  ever  came  to 
act  with  it.  He  cannot  be  termed  an  apostate,  for  he 
renounced  no  article  of  faith ;  much  less  a  convert,  for 
he  accepted  no  new  creed.  His  aim  remained  the  same. 
He  still  sought  to  spend  his  powers  in  the  fruitful  work 
of  practical  reform.  He  still  hoped  to  reconcile  King 
and  people.  If  the  Wentworth  of  1640  differed  from  the 
Wentworth  of  1628 — and  differed  for  the  worse — it  was 
because  new  duties  had  brought  new  conditions ;  but  the 
change  which  their  influence  effected  was  gradual  and 
unconscious.  Neither  can  it  fairly  be  said  that  Went- 
worth left  the  side  of  the  people  and  adopted  the  side 
i  P.  61. 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION. 

of  the  King.  Nothing  misleads  so  much  as  the  applica- 
tion of  the  ideas  of  modem  politics  to  the  times  before 
party  government  was  born  or  dreamt  of.  The  first  axiom 
of  Wentworth's  political  creed  was  that  there  were  not  and 
could  not  be  two  sides ;  and  he  never  saw  that  what  had 
once  been  a  truth  was  rapidly  becoming  a  mere  phrase. 
*'  Divide  not,"  he  warned  the  Irish  Parliament,  "between 
the  interests  of  the  King  and  his  people,  as  if  there  were 
one  being  of  the  King,  and  another  being  of  his  people. 
This  is  the  most  mischievous  principle  that  can  be  laid 
in  reason  of  State.  .  .  You  might  as  well  tell  me  an 
head  might  live  without  a  body,  or  a  body  without  a 
head,  as  that  it  is  possible  for  a  King  to  be  rich  and 
happy  without  his  people  be  so  likewise,  or  that  a  people 
can  be  rich  and  happy  without  their  King  be  so  also. 
Most  certain  it  is,  that  their  well-being  is  individually 
one  and  the  same,  their  interests  woven  up  together 
with  so  tender  and  close  threads,  as  cannot  be  pulled 
asunder  without  a  rent  in  the  Commonwealth."  ^  When 
he  entered  on  his  government  at  York,  he  thus  declared 
his  object  as  a  ruler.  "  To  the  joint  individual  well- 
being  of  sovereignty  and  subjection,  I  vow  all  my  cares 
and  diligence  through  the  whole  course  of  my  ministry." 
"  I  thank  God,"  he  reiterated  on  his  scaffold,  "  that  in 
all  my  employment  since  I  had  the  honour  to  serve  his 
Majesty,  I  never  had  anything  in  my  heart  but  what  tended 
to  the  joint  individual  prosperity  of  King  and  people."  ^ 

In  his  view  the  liberties  of  the  people  and  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  Crown  were  perfectly  compatible  and  harmo- 

^  Letters^  i.  298.         ^  Appendix,  p.  292  ;   Trial^  pp.  640,  759. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxv 

nious  parts  of  the  constitution.  Each  must  be  kept 
"  within  the  modest  bounds  set  and  appointed  for  them 
by  the  sobriety  and  moderation  of  former  times."  Some- 
limes  he  represented  them  as  two  streams,  running  side 
by  side,  each  to  be  restrained  from  growing  at  the  cost  of 
the  other,  "  not  rising  one  above  another  in  any  kind,  but 
kept  in  their  own  wonted  channels.  For  if  they  rise  above 
these  heights,  the  one  or  the  other,  they  tear  the  banks, 
and  overflow  the  fair  meads  equally  on  one  side  and  the 
other."  At  other  times  he  pictured  the  constitution  as  a 
musical  instrument.  "  All  the  strings  of  this  government 
and  monarchy  have  been  so  perfectly  tuned  through  the 
skill  and  attention  of  our  forefathers,  that  if  you  wind 
any  of  them  anything  higher,  or  let  them  lower,  you 
shall  infallibly  interrupt  the  sweet  accord  that  ought  to 
be  entertained  of  King  and  people."  ^ 

According  to  Wentworth,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  King's 
faithful  servants  to  labour  to  defend  this  balance  of  the 
constitution,  to  protect  the  rights  alike  of  King  and 
people,  and  "  to  preserve  each  without  diminishing  or 
enlarging  either." 

The  sin  of  Buckingham  and  his  underlings  was  that 
they  had  "  extended  the  prerogative  of  the  Crown  beyond 
its  first  symmetry  which  makes  the  sweet  harmony  of 
the  whole."  2  The  sin  of  Sir  David  Foulis  and  his 
fellow  aristocrats  was  "  that  they  had  sought  to  impair 
the  regal  power ;  had  with  rough  hands  laid  hold  upon 
the  flowers  of  it,  and  with  unequal  and  swaggering 
paces  trampled  upon  the  rights  of  the  Crown."  In  the 
1   Trial,  pp.  182,  640.  -   _,       "^  Ibid.  p.  795. 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

one  case  he  wished  to  set  such  a  stamp  upon  the  laws 
"as  no  licentious  spirit  shall  dare  hereafter  to  enter  upon 
them."  In  the  other  he  urged  such  an  exemplary 
punishment  of  the  offender  as  should  for  the  future 
*' retain  licentious  spirits  within  the  sober  bounds  of 
humility  and  fear.''^  Throughout,  as  leader  of  the 
Opposition,  as  President  of  the  Council  of  the  North, 
and  as  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland,  Wentworth  regarded 
himself  as  defending  the  constitution  against  those  who 
sought  to  assail  it.  "  Stare  super  antiquas  vias "  is  a 
maxim  always  in  his  mouth. 

So  long  as  King  and  people  could  contrive  to  agree, 
this  theory  of  the  constitution  would  work  perfectly. 
Wentworth  bent  all  his  efforts  to  promote  that  agree- 
ment, and  it  was  with  the  hope  of  promoting  it  that  he 
entered  the  King's  service  in  1628.  The  letters  to 
Weston  in  which  he  expressed  his  views  have  unhappily 
not  survived,  but  Weston's  reply  enables  us  to  conjecture 
their  contents.  "My  heart,"  protested  Weston,  "hath 
ever  been  full  of  those  ends  you  wish.  If  honesty 
did  not  lead  me  to  it,  yet  wisdom  would  for  my  own 
profit  and  safety.  By  the  good  agreement  between 
the  King  and  his  people,  I  may  be  happy;  without 
it,  impossible  for  me  to  be  so."^  It  was  Wentworth's 
misfortune  that  he  entered  the  King's  service  not 
merely  at  a  time  when  King  and  people  differed,  but 
when  the  difference  was  too  great  to  be  healed ;  which- 
ever prevailed,  the  harmonious  balance  of  the  constitution 
must  be  destroyed.  One  of  the  two,  either  the  Hberty 
1  Appendix,  p.  292.  Letters,  p.  47. 


INTR  OD  UC  TION.  xxvi  i 

of  the  people  or  the  authority  of  the  King,  must  increase 
at  the  expense  of  the  other.  So  soon  as  Wentworth 
came  to  perceive  this  necessity,  he  preferred  the  second 
alternative.  "  He  always  thought,"  writes  Radcliffe,  "  that 
regal  power  and  popular  privileges  might  well  stand 
together.  .  .  Yet  it  being  most  hard  and  difficult  to  keep 
the  interests  of  King  and  People  from  encroaching  one 
upon  another,  the  longer  he  lived  his  experience  taught 
him  that  it  was  far  safer  that  the  King  should  increase 
in  power  than  that  the  people  should  gain  advantages 
on  the  King :  that  may  turn  to  the  prejudice  of  some 
particular  sufferers,  this  draws  with  it  the  ruin  of  the 
whole."  ^  "  The  authority  of  the  King,"  said  Wentworth 
to  the  Council  of  the  North,  "is  the  keystone  which 
closeth  up  the  arch  of  order  and  government,  which 
contains  each  part  in  due  relation  to  the  whole,  and 
which  once  shaken,  infirmed,  all  the  frame  falls  together 
into  a  confused  heap  of  foundation  and  battlement,  of 
strength  and  beauty."  ^  For  that  reason  the  preservation 
of  the  King's  prerogative  was  more  important  than  the 
preservation  of  the  people's  liberties.  In  the  funda- 
mental laws  of  the  land  the  property  of  the  subject 
was  "  the  second  table,"  but  the  prerogative  of  the  King 
the  first,  and  "  hath  a  something  more  imprinted  upon  it. 
For  if  it  hath  a  divinity  imprinted  upon  it,  it  is  God's 
anointed  ;  it  is  he  that  gives  the  powers.  And  Kings 
are  as  Gods  on  earth,  higher  prerogatives  than  can  be 
said,  or  found  to  be  spoken  of  the  property  or  liberty 
of  the  subject."  ^ 
1  Letters^  ii.  434.  ^  p_  292.  3  Trial,  pp.  182,  646. 


xxviii  introduction: 

Wentworth  held  that  this  view  of  the  Royal  power 
was  perfectly  compatible  with  the  existence,  the  useful- 
ness, and  the  dignity  of  parliamentary  institutions.  In 
his  dying  speech  he  repudiated  as  a  calumny  the  charge 
of  hostility  to  parliaments.  "  I  was  so  far  from  being 
against  parliaments  that  I  did  always  think  the  parlia- 
ments of  England  were  the  most  happy  constitutions 
that  any  kingdom  or  nation  lived  under,  and  the  best 
means  under  God  to  make  the  King  and  people  happy."  ^ 
There  was  much  truth  in  this  protest.  Wentworth  did 
not  share  his  master's  dread  and  hatred  of  parliaments. 
He  thought  that  a  temporary  intermission  of  such 
assemblies  was  necessary  until  the  "peccant  humour" 
was  purged  forth,  "  that  once  rightly  corrected  we  may 
hope  for  a  parliament  of  a  sound  constitution  indeed." 
The  success  with  which  he  had  managed  the  Irish 
Parliament  encouraged  him  (and  encouraged  others 
also)  to  think  of  the  calling  of  a  parliament  again  in 
England.^  He  it  was  who  persuaded  the  King,  in  Dec. 
1639,  after  so  many  years'  intermission,  again  to  make 
trial  of  a  parliament. 

P^^'-'Yet  it  was  impossible  to  exalt  the  rights  of  kingship 
without  at  the  same  time  diminishing  the  rights  of  par- 

1  liaments.  Strafford  regarded  them  as  useful  machines 
for  making  good  laws  or  amending  bad  ones,  but  he 
never  considered  them  fit  to  guide  the  policy  of  a 
government  or  control  its  administration.  They  were 
useful  also,  according  to  his  view,  as  the  recognised 
constitutional  form  through  which  the  king  was  to 
1  Trial,  p.  759.  2  Letters,  i.  41,  420. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxix 

seek  and  obtain  the  co-operation  of  his  subjects.  He 
represented  Charles  to  the  Irish  Parliament,  as  "ever 
best  pleased  to  tread  the  ancient  paths  in  public  services, 
to  take  his  people  along  with  him,  to  have  you  yourselves 
co-operate  with  him  for  the  individual  good  of  you  both." 
It  was  their  business  to  supply  the  king  with  money  to 
carry  out  the  policy  on  which  his  wisdom  had  deter- 
mined, "  a  supply  which  in  all  wisdom,  good  nature,  and 
conscience  they  are  not  to  deny."  ^ 

"  My  master  expects  the  honour  of  your  trust,"  he  told 
the  Irish  Parliament,  explaining  at  the  same  time  that  it 
was  the  refusal  to  trust  the  king  which  had  caused  "  the 
misfortunes  these  meetings  have  run  of  late  years  in 
England."  ^  This  trust,  moreover,  must  be  complete, 
there  must  be  no  attempt  at  *'  laying  clogs  or  conditions 
on  the  king ; "  "  conditions  are  not  to  be  admitted  with 
any  subjects."^  Should  the  Irish  parliament  refuse  to 
trust  the  king  their  opposition  would  be  futile,  as  well 
as  undutiful.  "  The  king  desires  this  great  work  may  be 
settled  by  Parliament,  as  the  more  beaten  path  he  covets 
to  walk  in,  yet  not  more  legal  than  if  done  by  his  pre- 
rogative royal,  where  the  ordinary  way  fails  him.  If  the 
people  then  be  so  unwise  as  to  cast  off  his  gracious 
proposals,  and  their  own  safety,  it  must  be  done  without 
them.  .  .  .  Could  they  fight  against  their  own  well-being ; 
yet  let  them  rest  assured,  his  majesty,  as  Pater  Patriae, 
would  not  suffer  it,  but  save  them  even  whether  they 
would  or  no,  do  that  by  his  own  power,  which  he  first 

1  Trial,  pp.  614,  657  ;  Letters,  i,  183,  287. 

^  Letters,  i.  289.  ^  Letters,  i.  184,  237,  290. 


XXX  INTRODUCTION. 

expected  to  have  accomplished  with  their  concurring 
assents."  ^  So  too  when  the  English  Parliament  in  1640 
had  refused  to  provide  the  king  with  money  for  the  war 
against  the  Scots,  Wentworth  asserted  that  the  king 
might  raise  supplies  without  the  grant  of  Parliament.  It 
was,  he  said,  a  "  case  of  extreme  and  unavoidable  neces- 
sity. And  the  king  may  in  that  case  use,  as  the  common 
parent  of  the  country,  what  power  God  Almighty  hath 
given  him,  for  preserving  himself  and  his  people,  for 
whom  he  is  accomptable  to  Almighty  God.  In  these 
cases  he  hath  a  power  given  him  by  God  Almighty  which 
cannot  be  taken  from  him  by  others;  neither,  under 
favour,  is  he  able  to  take  it  from  himself."  ^  He 
might  exercise  that  power  even  when  the  necessity  was 
less  visible  and  the  danger  more  remote.  "  I  conceive," 
writes  Wentworth  in  his  criticism  on  Hampden's  trial, 
"  that  the  power  of  levies  of  forces  at  sea  and  land  for 
the  very,  not  feigned,  relief  and  safety  of  the  public,  is 
such  a  property  of  sovereignty  as  were  the  crown  willing, 
yet  can  it  not  divest  itself  thereof :  Salus  Populi  suprema 
Lex  ;  nay,  in  cases  of  extremity  even  above  Acts  of  Par- 
liament." The  king  therefore  was  justified  in  levying 
ship-money  without  a  parliamentary  grant.  "  I  conceive 
it  was  out  of  humour  opposed  by  Hampden  beyond  the 
modesty  of  a  subject  and  that  reverence  wherein  we 
ought  to  have  so  gracious  a  sovereign,  it  being  ever  to  be 
understood,  the  prospects  of  kings  into  mysteries  of  state 
are  so  far  exceeding  those  of  ordinary  common  persons, 
as  they  be  able  to  discern  and  prevent  dangers  to  the 
1  Letters,  i.  238.  ^  Trial,  p.  550. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxi 

public  afar  off,  which  others  shall  not  so  much  as  dream 
of  till  they  feel  the  unavoidable  stripes  and  smart  of  them 
upon  their  naked  shoulders.  .  .  .  Therefore  it  is  a  safe 
rule  for  us  all  in  the  fear  of  God  to  remit  these  supreme 
watches  to  that  regal  power,  whose  peculiar  indeed  it  is  ; 
submit  ourselves  in  these  high  considerations  to  his 
ordinance,  as  being  no  other  than  the  ordinance  of  God 
itself;  and  rather  attend  upon  his  will,  with  confidence 
in  his  justice,  belief  in  his  wisdom,  assurance  in  his 
parental  affections  to  his  subjects  and  kingdom,  than  feed 
ourselves  with  the  curious  questions,  with  the  vain 
flatteries  of  imaginary  liberty,  which,  had  we  even  our 
silly  wishes  and  conceits,  were  we  to  frame  a  new  common- 
wealth even  to  our  own  fancy,  might  yet  in  conclusion, 
leave  ourselves  less  free,  less  happy,  than  now  we  are."  ^ 
To  reconcile  the  nation  to  the  loss  of  the  control  over 
the  Government  which  it  -was  unfit  to  exercise,  Went- 
worth  meant  to  give  it  the  soHd  realities  of  even-handed 
justice  and  material  prosperity.  He  too  cherished  the 
vision  of  an  ideal  commonwealth  framed  after  his  own 
fancy.  "  Once  freed  from  the  conditions  and  restraints 
of  subjects,"  the  king  would  be  able  to  effect  unhin- 
dered whatever  the  welfare  of  his  subjects  required. 
His  "excellent  wisdom,"  ever  studying  "the  just  and 
moderate  government  of  his  people,"  and  ministering 
back  to  them  in  return  for  their  subsidies  "  the  plenties 
and  comforts  of  life,"  would  guide  all  classes  to  work 
together  for  the  common  weal.  His  justice,  "  search- 
ing and  severe  in  punishing  the  oppressions  and  wrongs 
1  letters,  ii,  388. 


xxxii  INTR  OD  UC  TION. 

of  his  subjects,"  would  protect  the  poor  against  the 
rich,  and  the  friendless  against  the  powerful.  The 
"love  and  protection  "  of  the  king  would  be  repaid  by 
the  loyalty  of  the  people.  In  the  end  the  nation  would 
be  reconciled  to  the  king's  absolutism  by  the  beneficence 
of  his  rule,  parliaments  would  submit  to  become  the 
king's  helpers  instead  of  striving  to  be  his  masters,  and 
the  people  would  cease  to  desire  "  imaginary  liberty." 

In  England,  at  all  events,  such  a  scheme  as  Strafford's 
was  foredoomed  to  failure.  It  had  its  source  rather  in  the 
traditions  of  the  past  than  the  necessities  of  the  present, 
and  the  conditions  required  for  its  success  were  lacking. 
To  establish  an  intelligent  despotism  two  things  were 
needful :  an  intelligent  despot,  and  a  people  willing  to 
forego  the  right  of  thinking  for  itself.  Charles  I.  neither 
sympathised  with  the  desires  of  his  people  nor  under- 
stood their  needs,  whilst  his  infirmity  of  purpose  pre- 
vented him  from  following  any  systematic  policy.  Evils 
and  abuses  there  might  be  in  the  social  fabric ;  but  no 
evil  and  no  danger  great  enough  to  induce  the  English 
nation  to  surrender,  even  for  a  time,  the  claim  to  govern 
itself. 

In  Ireland,  however,  the  conditions  were  very  different. 
There  parliamentary  institutions  were  mere  forms,  and 
had  never  been  anything  more.  Enough  oppression  and 
enough  disorder  existed  to  make  the  people  desire  "  to 
fly  from  petty  tyrants  to  the  throne."  Hence  Went- 
worth's  policy  met  with  a  marvellous  temporary  success. 
How  swiftly  he  restored  order,  how  greatly  he  increased 
the  material  prosperity  of  Ireland,  Browning's  pages  well 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxiii 

show.^  What  he  fails  to  show  is  Wentworth's  attempt 
to  establish  that  reign  of  impartial  justice  which  was 
equally  important  to  Wentworth's  mind,  and  an  equally 
necessary  part  of  his  policy.  The  Lord  Deputy's  re- 
port to  the  king  in  1636  shows  the  object  which  he 
had  set  before  himself.  "Justice,"  he  told  Charles, 
*'was  dispensed  without  acceptation  of  persons;  the 
poor  knew  where  to  seek  and  to  have  his  relief,  with- 
out being  afraid  to  appeal  to  his  Majesty's  catholic 
justice  against  the  greatest  subject ;  the  great  men  con- 
tented with  reason,  because  they  knew  not  how  to  help 
themselves,  or  fill  their  greedy  appetites,  where  otherwise 
they  are  as  sharp  set  upon  their  own  wills  as  any  people 
in  the  world  :  that  was  a  blessing  the  poorer  sort,  this  a 
restraint  the  richer,  had  not  formerly  been  acquainted 
with  in  that  kingdom."  ^ 

Independent  evidence  shows  how  successful  Strafford 
was  in  attaining  this  aim.  My  Lord  Deputy,  writes  a 
correspondent  to  Lord  Fairfax,  *'  hath  achieved  high 
honours  in  respect  of  justice."  "Dives  hath  no  advan- 
tage of  Lazarus,"  was  the  news  which  reached  Sir  John 
Bingley  from  his  friends  in  Ireland.  "  Whilst  I  was  in 
Ireland,"  says  a  third  witness,  "the  poor  cried,  never  so 
good  a  Lord  Deputy." 

One  of  the  first  things  which  struck  him  when  he 
arrived  in  Ireland  was  the  way  in  which  the  tax  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  army  had  been  levied.  "  Most  un- 
conscionably the  landlords  and  moneyed  men,  to  ease 
themselves,  had  laid  it  upon  the  poor  and  bare  tenants." 
^  Pages  179,  184.  ^  Letters,  ii.  18. 


xxxi^r  INTRODUCTION. 

He  arranged  that  henceforwards  the  burden  of  subsidies 
"  should  lie  upon  the  wealthier  sort,  which,  God  knows, 
hath  not  been  the  fashion  of  Ireland."  The  relief  of 
the  tenants  was  also  one  of  the  objects  of  certain 
alterations  made  by  Strafford  in  the  system  of  land  tenure 
— alterations  which  were  likewise  intended  to  break  the 
influence  of  the  great  noblemen,  and  attach  the  smaller 
landholders  more  closely  to  the  crown.  Strafford's 
"masterpiece,"  according  to  Secretary  Coke,  was  this 
"changing  of  the  tenures  of  the  lower  sort  of  Irish 
from  their  oppressing  lords  to  their  gracious  king."^ 

"  The  people  in  general,"  wrote  Strafford  in  1637, 
*'are  in  great  quietness,  and  if  I  be  not  much  mistaken, 
well  satisfied,  if  not  delighted  with  his  Majesty's  gracious 
government  and  protection.  It  being  most  sure  that  the 
lower  part  of  the  Irish  subject  hath  not  in  any  age  lived 
so  preserved  from  the  pressures  and  oppressions  of  the 
great  ones,  as  now  they  do,  for  which  I  assure  you  they 
bless  God  and  the  king ;  and  begin  to  discern  and  taste 
the  great  and  manifold  benefits  they  gather  under  the 
shadow  and  from  their  immediate  dependence  upon  the 
crown,  in  comparison  of  the  scant  and  narrow  coverings 
they  formerly  borrowed  from  their  petty  yet  imperious 
lords." 2  In  the  spring  of  1640,  when  Strafford  left 
Ireland,  it  seemed  as  if  his  purpose  had  been  attained. 
"  This  people,"  he  writes,  "  is  abundantly  comforted 
and  satisfied  in  your  justice,  set  with  exceeding  alacrity 
to  serve  the  crown  the  right  way  in  these  doubtful  times, 
and  much  trusting  and  believing  us  your  Majesty's 
^  Letters^  i.  238,  334,  401.  ^  Letters^  ii.  93. 


INTRODUCTION,  xxxv 

poor  ministers  :  all  this  in  as  high  a  measure  as  your 
own  princely  heart  can  wish."  "  God  be  praised,"  were 
his  words  a  few  months  eariier,  "  no  king  can  be  more 
absolute  than  your  Majesty  is  amongst  us."^ 

Yet  all  this  appearance  of  success  was  delusive. 
Strafford's  work  failed  to  endure,  and  its  failure  was  in 
part  due  to  his  own  errors.  In  his  desire  to  realise  his 
conception  of  good  government  as  rapidly  as  possible  he 
had  regarded  all  means  as  legitimate.  His  severity  had 
alienated  the  nobles  and  officials  who  had  hitherto 
formed  the  governing  class  in  Ireland.  Presbyterian  and 
Puritan  colonists  had  been  driven  into  opposition  by  his 
determination  to  enforce  conformity  to  the  Anglican 
Church.  His  plantations  of  Clare  and  Ormond,  and  his 
intended  plantation  of  Connaught,  had  roused  the  fears 
of  the  native  Irish  for  their  lands.  The  meeting  of  the 
Long  Parliament  set  free  all  these  different  resentments, 
and  destroyed  the  strong  government  he  had  set  up.  A 
year  later  the  outbreak  of  the  Irish  rebelHon,  caused 
largely  by  Strafford's  agrarian  policy,  swept  away  the 
material  prosperity  he  had  created.  But  even  with  twenty 
years  of  absolute  power,  he  could  hardly  have  effected 
what  he  sought  to  do  in  six  or  seven,  for  he  relied  upon 
force  to  effect  social  changes  which  force  alone  was 
insufficient  to  accomplish,  and  left  out  of  count  the 
necessity  of  obtaining  the  co-operation  of  the  people 
he  governed. 

Whilst  in  Ireland  Strafford  gained  only  apparent  and 
partial  success,  in  England  he  had  to  struggle  from  the 
'  Letters ,  ii.  387,  402. 


xxxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

first  with  failure  and  defeat.  In  July  1639  the  king 
summoned  him  to  his  side  to  advise  on  the  measures  to 
be  taken  to  suppress  the  rebellion  in  Scotland. 

He  had  not  been  consulted  when  the  disturbances  in 
Scotland  first  began.  On  July  3rd,  1638,  the  king  had 
written  to  ask  him  what  forces  could  be  drawn  from 
Ireland,  but  even  then  he  was  not  consulted  on  the  con- 
duct of  the  war  in  general.  He  had  given  some  assist- 
ance during  the  first  Scotch  war,  but  not  as  much  as  he 
could  have  done  had  he  been  more  fully  trusted. 
"Where  trusts  and  instructions  come  too  late,"  he  com- 
plained, "then  the  business  is  sure  to  be  lost."  Now 
that  the  game  was  lost,  when  the  first  war  had  ended  in 
an  ignominious  peace,  he  was  at  last  called  to  restore  the 
fortune  of  a  sinking  cause.  He  arrived  in  London  on 
Sept.  22nd,  1639.  "  From  that  time  he  became,  what  he 
had  never  been  before,  the  trusted  counsellor  of  Charles, 
so  far  at  least  as  it  was  possible  for  Charles  to  trust  any 
one.  During  the  fourteen  months  which  followed  he 
was  the  great  minister,  striving  with  all  the  force  of  his 
iron  will  to  rescue  his  master  from  the  net  in  which  his 
feet  were  inextricably  entangled."  ^ 

Browning  treats  this  part  of  Wentworth's  life  very 
inadequately,  no  doubt  because  there  are  very  few  letters 
amongst  the  Strafford  correspondence  relating  to  it, 
though  there  was  ample  material  in  other  collections  of 
papers  then  published.^ 

^  Gardiner,  Histoyy  of  England,  ix.  73. 

^  E.  g.  The  Hardwicke  State  Papers,  The  Clarendon  State  Papers, 
and  Rushworth. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxvii 

The  year  1640  was  the  culminating  point  in  Went- 
worth's  career.  On  Jan.  12th,  1640,  he  was  created  Earl 
of  Strafford,  and  a  week  later  he  was  raised  from  the 
rank  of  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland  to  the  higher  dignity  of 
Lord  Lieutenant.  In  the  summer  he  was  entrusted  with 
the  chief  command  of  the  King's  English  army  (Aug.  18), 
and  honoured  with  the  Order  of  the  Garter  (Sept.  24). 
Charles  said  openly  that  he  trusted  him  more  than  all  his 
Council,  and  the  Queen,  so  long  hostile,  told  him  that  she 
'esteemed  him  the  most  capable  and  faithful  servant 
her  husband  had.^  As  the  catastrophe  drew  nearer,  the 
manifestations  of  their  confidence  redoubled.  "  The 
King,"  wrote  Strafford  on  Nov.  5th,  1640,  "  hath  given 
me  great  demonstrations  of  his  affection,  and  strong 
assurances  as  can  be  expressed  in  words.  The  Queen  is 
infinitely  gracious  to  me,  above  all  that  you  can  imagine, 
and  doth  declare  it  in  a  very  public  and  strange  manner, 
so  as  nothing  can  hurt  me,  by  God's  help,  but  the 
iniquity  and  necessity  of  these  times." 

But  trust  had  come  too  late,  and  power  crumbled  in 
Strafford's  hands  as  he  grasped  it.  The  aim  of  his  policy 
was  to  subdue  the  Scots  and  to  rule  Scotland  directly 
from  England.  He  would  carry  on  the  war,  he  had 
written  in  1638,  till  the  Scots  had  received  the  common 
Prayer-book  used  in  our  churches  in  England  without 
any  alteration,  till  the  bishops  were  settled  peaceably  in 
their  jurisdiction.  "  Nay,  perchance  till  I  had  conformed 
that  kingdom  in  all,  as  well  for  the  temporal  as  eccle- 

1  Gardiner,  History  of  Englajid,  ix.  1 10  ;  Whitaker,  Life  of 
Raddiffe,  p.  2 1 8. 


xxxviii  INTRODUCTION. 

siastical  affairs,  wholly  to  the  government  and  laws  of 
England ;  and  Scotland  governed  by  the  King  and 
Council  of  England,  in  a  great  part  at  least  as  we  are 
here  "  [in  Ireland].  All  opposition  was  to  be  suppressed 
and  chastised.  The  Scots  were  to  be  "  cudgelled  back 
into  their  right  wits  again  ";  the  EngUsh  Puritans  to  be 
*'  whipped  home  into  their  right  wits  "  ;  EngUsh  country 
gentlemen  who  murmured  to  be  taught  that  "  their  part 
was  obedience  and  not  dispute."  "  He  could  not  com- 
prehend how  honest  men  could  look  on  the  Scots' 
resistance  from  a  point  of  view  different  to  his  own." 
He  believed  it  possible  to  carry  out  this  policy  with 
the  support  of  the  English  nation  and  by  the  aid  of  the 
English  parliament.  His  first  step  was  to  counsel  a  new 
levy  of  ship-money ;  his  next  to  persuade  the  King  to 
call  a  parliament  (Dec.  5,  1639).  Caring  little  for  the 
forms  of  the  constitution  himself,  he  never  understood 
'their  importance  to  others,  and  was  unprepared  for  the 
depth  and  strength  of  the  feeling  which  the  King's 
arbitrary  rule  had  roused.  He  thought  that  the  plea 
of  necessity  would  be  accepted,  and  these  violations 
of  the  constitution  condoned.  He  fancied  that  all 
would  end  in  a  reconciliation  between  the  King  and 
his  subjects.  To  the  assertion  that  the  King  might  use 
extra-legal  means  to  preserve  the  state,  he  added  the 
promise  "  that  when  the  present  danger  of  the  common- 
wealth was  by  the  wisdom,  courage,  and  power  of  the 
King  prevented,  and  the  public  weal  secured ;  in  a  time 
proper  and  fit,  the  King  was  obliged  to  vindicate  the  pro- 
perty and  liberty  of  the  subject  from  any  ill  prejudice 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxix 

that  might  fall  from  such  a  precedent."  ^  A  new  statute, 
such  as  he  had  proposed  in  1628,  defining  the  bounds 
of  the  King's  prerogative  and  the  subject's  liberty,  passed 
by  parliament  and  assented  to  by  the  King,  and  the  King 
and  his  people  would  again  be  happy  and  united. 

In  the  spring  of  1640  Wentworth  hurried  back  from 
Ireland — though  racked  by  gout  and  dysentery — to  take 
his  stand  by  the  King's  side  in  the  coming  struggle.  As 
he  had  prophetically  written  eight  years  earlier — "  I  have 
not  so  learned  my  master,  nor  am  I  so  indulgent  to  my 
own  ease,  as  to  let  his  affairs  suffer  shipwreck  whilst  I 
myself  rest  secure  in  harbour.  No,  let  the  tempest  be 
never  so  great,  I  will  much  rather  put  forth  to  sea,  work 
forth  the  storm,  or  at  least  be  found  dead  with  the 
rudder  in  my  hands."  ^  The  first  blow  to  Strafford's 
policy  was  the  rupture  between  the  King  and  the  parlia- 
ment in  May  1 640.  Then  came  the  failure  of  successive 
attempts  to  raise  money,  by  a  forced  loan  from  the 
London  merchants,  assistance  from  the  King  of  Spain,  or 
the  coinage  of  base  money.  All  hung  now  on  the  issue 
of  the  campaign.  Scarcely  recovered  from  an  illness 
which  had  brought  him  to  death's  door,  Strafford  was 
despatched  to  the  north  to  take  command  of  the  army 
on  the  border.  On  the  24th  of  August  he  left  London, 
and  the  first  day's  travel  brought  back  his  sufferings.  "  I 
am  not  very  weary,"  he  wrote  to  Radcliffe,  "  but  much 
worse  than  I  was  this  morning.  My  pains  are  the  same 
I  had  in  my  sickness,  and  the  new  grief  which  I  have  got 
again  on  my  liver  side  gives  me  my  former  difficulty  of 
1  Trial,  pp.  566,  646,  669.  2  p   299. 


xl  INTRODUCTION. 

breathing,  and  will  no  doubt  force  me  to  let  blood. 
Yet  hitherto  I  am  able  to  endure  travelling,  I  praise 
God,  and  so  long  as  that  holds  I  shall  go  on."  He 
reached  York  on  August  27th ;  on  the  28th  Conway  was 
routed  at  Newburn ;  and  on  the  29th  the  Scots  entered 
Newcastle.  The  sick  General's  first  duty  was  to  reorganise 
his  beaten  army.  "  Pity  me,"  he  wrote,  "  for  never  came 
any  man  to  so  lost  a  business.  The  army  altogether 
unexercised  and  unprovided  of  all  necessaries.  That  part 
which  I  bring  now  with  me  from  Durham  the  worst  I  ever 
saw.  Our  horse  all  cowardly,  the  country  from  Berwick  to 
York  in  the  power  of  the  Scot,  an  universal  affright  in  all, 
a  general  disaffection  to  the  King's  service,  none  sensible 
of  his  dishonour.  In  one  word,  here  alone  to  fight  with 
all  these  evils  without  any  one  to  help.  God  of  His  good- 
ness deliver  me  out  of  this  the  greatest  evil  of  my  life."  ^ 
Still  with  desperate  energy  Strafford  struggled  to  main- 
tain the  lost  cause.  To  deprive  the  Scots  of  provisions 
he  ordered  the  mills  to  be  dismantled.  Obliged  to  own 
the  impossibiUty  of  expelling  the  Scots  from  Durham  and 
Northumberland,  he  clung  to  the  hope  of  holding  York- 
shire against  them.  Remain  on  the  defensive,  and  wear 
them  out  by  time  was  his  counsel  to  the  King.  In  a 
piched  battle  the  English  army  would  infallibly  be  beaten, 
but  in  skirmishes  they  might  hold  their  own  against  the 
Scots.  The  capture  of  a  troop  of  Scotch  plunderers  who 
had  penetrated  into  Yorkshire,  and  some  trifling  successes 
of  the  garrison  of  Berwick  seemed  to  justify  this  view, 
Strafford  bent  all  his  efforts  to  restore  discipline  in  his 
■^  Whitaker,  Life  of  Ra.icUffe^  p.  203. 


INTRODUCTION.  xli 

army, — "that  mass  of  disorder  and  unsoldierliness "  as 
Clarendon  terms  it.  Want  of  money  obliged  him  some- 
times to  persuade  where  he  would  have  commanded  ; 
but  when  he  had  money  he  meant  to  take  a  shorter 
way,  and  in  the  camp  at  York  he  set  up  a  gallows  at 
the  head  of  each  regiment  to  show  them  the  penalty 
of  misconduct.  At  one  moment  he  projected  the 
expulsion  of  all  the  Scots  from  Ulster  in  order  to  render 
Ireland  at  least  safe  from  Scottish  invaders.  At  another 
time  he  proposed  to  bring  over  the  Irish  army — 8000 
foot  and  2000  horse — to  England,  as  all  men  whis- 
pered, not  merely  to  fight  the  Scots,  but  to  reduce  the 
English  to  the  King's  will.  Against  those  who  refused 
to  assist  the  King  in  his  extremity  he  broke  out  with  all 
his  old  vehemence.  "  You  are  bound,"  he  told  the  York- 
shire gentlemen,  "  to  attend  his  Majesty  at  your  own  costs 
and  charges  in  case  of  invasion  ;  you  are  bound  by  the 
common  law  of  England,  by  the  law  of  reason,  by  the 
law  of  nature,  and  you  are  no  better  than  beasts  if  you 
refuse  in  this  case  to  attend  the  King,  his  Majesty  offering 
in  person  to  lead  you  on."  Partly  by  threats,  partly  by 
concessions,  he  won  them  to  pay  their  trained  bands  for  two 
months,  and  to  withdraw  their  petition  for  a  parliament. 
But  the  impossibility  of  raising  money  to  maintain  the 
army  baffled  all  his  efforts.  Even  on  the  personal 
guarantee  of  the  peers  London  refused  a  loan.  Even  the 
King's  Council  in  London  dared  not  recommend  taxation 
by  prerogative.  Everywhere  the  counties  refused  to  pay 
their  quota  of  coat-and-conduct  money.^ 
^  Rushworthy  iii.  1235. 


xlii  INTRODUCTION. 

Unable  longer  to  resist  the  universal  cry  for  a  parlia- 
ment, Charles  was  obliged,  on  Sept.  24,  to  announce  the 
issue  of  writs  summoning  one  to  meet  for  Nov.  3.  To 
Strafford  this  meant  ruin,  but  he  hardly  realized  the 
greatness  of  the  danger  in  which  he  stood.  On  Oct.  8, 
the  Scotch  Commissioners  in  a  public  paper  denounced 
him  as  an  incendiary,  and  declared  that  they  meant  to 
insist  on  his  punishment.^  "  Whatsoever  they  have  to  say 
let  them  say  it  in  a  parliament,  and  all  they  can  against 
me,"  answered  Strafford.^  Still  in  the  great  Council  of 
the  Peers  he  stubbornly  resisted  the  demands  of  the 
Scots,  and  opposed  every  concession  made  to  them. 
Almost  alone  in  his  opposition,  he  was  obliged  to  submit 
to  a  truce  on  terms  which  he  held  dishonourable  and 
unnecessary.  On  its  conclusion  the  King  left  him  in 
Yorkshire  to  command  the  army  and  keep  the  unpaid 
soldiers  in  order.  With  indomitable  pride  he  refused 
to  take  any  part  in  raising  the  contribution  agreed  on 
for  the  support  of  the  Scots.  He  would  not,  he  said,  be 
an  instrument  for  drawing  new  provinces  under  their 
yoke.  He  would  rather  bestow  his  whole  estate  on  the 
King  than  one  penny  on  them. 

'  As  soon  as  the  parliament  opened  Charles  discovered 
that  it  was  necessary  for  his  service  to  have  Strafford 
again  by  his  side,  and  summoned  him  to  London. 
Browning  represents  him  as  begging  the  King  to  allow 
him  to  retire  to  his  government  of  Ireland,  or  to  some 
other  place,  where  he  might  promote  his  Majesty's  service, 
and  not  deliver  himself  into  the  hands  of  his  enraged 

^  Rush-worthy  iii.  1293.  ^  Hardwicke  Papers,  ii.  265. 


INTRODUCTION.  xliii 

enemies.^  There  is  evidence  that  his  friends  urged  him 
"  to  pass  over  to  Ireland  where  the  army  rested  at  his 
devotion,  or  to  transport  himself  to  foreign  kingdoms  till 
fairer  weather  here  should  invite  him  home."  The 
Marquis  of  Hamilton  advised  him  to  fly,  but  as 
Hamilton  told  the  King,  the  Earl  was  too  great-hearted 
to  fear.  Though  conscious  of  the  peril  of  obedience,  he 
set  out  to  London  to  stand  by  his  master. 

"  I  am  to-morrow  to  London,"  wrote  Strafford  to  Rad- 
cliffe,  "with  more  dangers  beset,  I  believe,  than  ever 
man  went  out  of  Yorkshire ;  yet  my  heart  is  good,  and  I 
find  nothing  cold  within  me.  It  is  not  to  be  believed 
how  great  the  malice  is,  and  how  intent  they  are  about  it ; 
little  less  care  there  is  taken  to  ruin  me  than  to  save  their 
own  souls.  Nay,  for  themselves  I  wish  their  attention  to 
the  latter  were  equal  to  that  they  lend  me  in  the  former  ; 
and  certainly  they  will  rack  heaven  and  hell,  as  they  say, 
to  do  me  mischief.  They  expect  great  matters  out  of 
Ireland,  therefore  pray  you  lend  an  ear  to  what  may  stir 
there ;  howbeit  I  know  not  anything  yet."  ^ 

One  desperate  resource  remained.  The  intrigues  of 
the  parliamentary  leaders  with  the  Scots  had  come  to 
Strafford's  knowledge,  and  he  had  determined  to  impeach 
them   of    high    treason.     He    would    prove    that  Pym 

1  Browning's  statement  (p.  239)  of  Strafford's  intentions  is 
founded  on  Whitelock,  Mejnorials,  p.  loS,  vol.  i.  ed.  1853. 
L'Estrange's  Reign  of  King  Charles,  ed.  1656,  p.  201  ;  Sanderson, 
Reign  of  King  Charles,  1658,  p.  337;  and  Heylyn,  Life  of  Laud, 
p.    461,    agree  in   stating  that    Strafford  refused  to   fly.     See  also 

(Z\zx&i\^ox\,  Rebellion,  \\.  104.  ^^x-*-: .    . ^i^.^^^ 

Whitaker's  Raddiffe,  p.  218.  J^0}^^  '"'^^l^ 

UNIVERSITY 


a 


xliv  INTRODUCTION. 

and  his  friends  had  secretly  communicated  with  the 
rebels,  and  invited  them  to  bring  a  Scottish  army  into 
England.  "At  one  blow  he  hoped  to  strike  down  the 
traitors,  and  regain  for  the  crown  the  popularity  it  had 
lost."^  Strafford  arrived  in  London  on  Monday,  Nov.  9, 
1640,  and  spent  the  Tuesday  in  resting  after  his  journey. 
On  the  morning  of  Wednesday  the  nth  he  took  his  seat 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  but  did  not  strike  the  blow. 

"  The  moment  when  his  accusation  should  have  been 
brought,  if  it  was  to  be  brought  at  all,  was  allowed  to  slip. 
by.  It  is  no  explanation  to  say  that  the  Lords  were 
engaged  in  other  business.  In  such  a  case  as  this  business 
could  be  interrupted,  and  at  all  events  there  would  be 
time  to  speak  when  it  was  concluded.  The  only  reason- 
able supposition  is  that,  when  the  moment  for  execution 
came,  Charles  drew  back  as  he  had  so  often  drawn  back 
before.  After  a  short  visit  Strafford  left  the  House 
without  uttering  a  word." 

Meanwhile  some  traitor  about  the  court  had  revealed 
the  secret  of  Strafford's  intentions  to  his  opponents. 
Already  on  Nov.  7  committees  had  been  appointed  to 
investigate  the  complaints  of  Ireland  against  Strafford, 

^  See  Gardiner,  History  of  England^  ix.  p.  232.  The  statement 
that  Strafford  intended  to  accuse  his  opponents  is  made  in  Laud's 
History  of  the  Troubles  (Works,  iii.  295) ;  by  Rush  worth  {Trial  of 
Strafford,  p.  2) ;  by  Sanderson,  The  Reign  of  King  Charles,  p.  337  ; 
and  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Earl  of  Manchester.  Clarendon  mentions 
it  as  a  rumour  {Rebellion,  iii.  10).  It  is  curious  that  Browning, 
who  sees  the  importance  of  this  fact,  and  makes  good  use  of  it  in 
his  play  (Act  III.  scene  ii.),  says  so  little  of  it  in  this  biography. 
Probably  he  only  knew  of  it  from  Clarendon,  who  gives  it  with  a 
doubt. 


INTRODUCTION.  xlv 

and  the  general  grievances  of  England  also.  No  man 
doubted  that  the  result  would  be  the  accusation  of 
Strafford,  and  this  new  discovery  merely  precipitated  the 
attack.  Seven  articles  of  impeachment  were  hastily  drawn 
up  on  the  morning  of  Nov.  nth,  and  the  same  afternoon 
Pym  presented  them  to  the  House  of  Lords.  Strafford, 
committed  at  first  to  the  custody  of  the  Black  Rod,  was 
sent  to  the  Tower  on  Nov.  25. 

The  ''fiery  trial"  he  had  often  anticipated  had  come 
at  last.  "  I  have  much  reason,"  he  had  written  eight  years 
earHer,  "  to  carry  my  eyes  along  with  me  wherever  I  go, 
and  to  expect  my  actions,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest, 
shall  all  be  cast  into  the  balance  and  tried  whether 
heavy  or  light.  Content  in  the  name  of  God  !  let  them 
take  me  up  and  cast  me  down.  If  I  do  not  fall  square, 
and — to  use  a  word  of  art — paragon,  in  every  point  of 
duty  to  my  master ;  nay,  if  I  do  not  fully  comply  with 
that  public  and  common  protection  which  good  kings 
afford  their  good  people,  let  me  perish,  and  let  no  man 
pity  me."  ^ 

As  Browning  observes,  Strafford  was  not  unprepared  to 
meet  his  changed  fortunes.  He  faced  them  with  mag- 
nanimous cheerfulness  and  courage.  He  relied  on  his 
own  innocence  of  the  charge  brought  against  him,  and 
was  convinced  that  he  could  prove  it.  "  As  to  myself," 
he  wrote  on  Dec.  13, ''  albeit  all  will  be  done  against  me 
that  art  and  malice  can  devise,  with  all  the  rigour 
possible,  yet  I  am  in  great  inward  quietness  and  a 
strong  belief  God  will  deliver  me  out  of  all  these  troubles." 
1  P.  298. 


xlvi  INTRODUCTION. 

^'  Some  meaner  minds,"  he  wrote  two  days  later,  "  may 
perchance  think  this  my  night,  but  indeed  I  am  and 
have  myself  in  a  better  opinion,  never  having  done  any- 
thing I  need  to  be  ashamed  of;  and  am  able  in  much 
tranquillity  of  mind  to  look  through  this  foul  weather. 
To  suffer,  so  it  be  not  for  our  ill  doing,  is  the  condition 
of  our  frail  humanity,  and  to  a  constant  mind  it  must 
not  sure  be  very  hard  to  undergo."  "  Here,"  he  told 
Ormonde,  "  is  my  only  danger,  that  I  may  not  have  time 
given  sufficient  for  my  clearing." ^ 

In  Browning's  account  of  Strafford's  trial  the  import- 
ance of  the  change  of  procedure  from  impeachment  to 
attainder  is  inadequately  appreciated,^  nor  are  the  facts 
correctly  told.  Strafford's  confidence  arose  largely  from 
the  fact  that  he  had  not  technically  been  guilty  of  high 
treason.  After  he  had  heard  the  detailed  articles  of 
impeachment  (Jan.  30,  1641),  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  to 
Ormonde,  and  to  Sir  Adam  Loftus,  telling  each  of  them 
that  there  was  nothing  capital  in  the  charge  against 
him.^  During  the  first  part  of  the  trial  his  confidence 
increased.  "To  the  best  of  my  judgment,"  he  wrote 
to  Radcliffe,  "we  gain  much  rather  than  lose.  I  trust 
God  will  preserve  us ;  and,  as  [of]  all  other  passions,  I 

1  Letter  to  his  Wife,  p.  243  ;  Letter  to  Loftus,  15  Dec.  ;  Sb-aJ^ord 
Letters,  ii.  414  ;  Letter  to  Ormonde,  3  Feb.  1641  ;  Carte's  Ormonde, 
ed.  185 1,  V.  246. 

2  In  the  play  the  significance  of  the  change  is  very  well  brought 
out  in  the  speeches  attributed  to  Vane  and  Pym,  Act  IV,  scene  ii. 
lines  125 — 137,  170 — 183. 

^  Letter  to  his  Wife,  Feb.  4,  p.  245  ;  to  Loftus,  Feb.  4 ; 
Stafford  Letters,  ii.  415  ;  to  Ormonde,  Feb.  3  ;  Carte,  v.  246. 


INTRODUCTION.  xlvii 

am  free  of  fear,  the  articles  that  are  coming  I  apprehend 
not.  The  Irish  business  is  passed,  and  better  than  I 
expected,  their  proofs  being  very  scant.  God's  hand  is 
with  us,  for  what  is  not  we  might  expect  to  have  been 
sworn  from  thence?  All  will  be  well,  and  every  hour 
gives  more  hope  than  other."  ^ 

On  April  lo,  a  serious  quarrel  broke  out  between  the 
two  Houses  on  the  question  of  the  admissibility  of  some 
fresh  evidence.  A  riotous  scene  took  place  in  West- 
minster Hall,  and  there  seemed  likely  to  be  a  permanent 
breach.  "  The  Commons  on  both  sides  of  the  House," 
says  Baillie,  "  raise  in  a  fury,  with  a  shout  of  Withdraw  ! 
Withdraw  !  Withdraw  !  get  all  their  feet,  on  with  their 
hats,  cocked  their  beavers  in  the  King's  sight.  We  all 
did  fear  it  should  go  to  a  present  tumult."  "  The  King 
laughed,"  says  another  eye-witness,  "  and  the  Earl  of 
Strafford  was  so  well  pleased  therewith  that  he  would 
not  hide  his  joy." 

The  same  afternoon  the  Commons  decided  to  bring 
in  a  Bill  of  Attainder.  "  The  secret  of  their  taking  this 
way  is  conceived  to  be  to  prevent  the  hearing  of  the 
Earl's  lawyers,  who  give  out  that  there  is  no  law  yet  in 
force  whereby  he  can  be  condemned  to  die  for  aught  yet 
objected  against  him,  and  therefore  their  intent  is  by  this 
Bill  to  supply  the  defect  of  the  laws  therein."  ^  A  member 

1  This  letter  is  printed  by  Dr.  Whitaker,  p,  222,  as  a  postscript  to 
Strafford's  letter  of  Nov.  5,  1640,  but  is  really  a  separate  letter  of 
fourteen  lines,  and  should  be  dated  April  4,  1641.  The  internal 
evidence  is  conclusive. 

2  Baillie,  i.  346  ;  Cal.  State  Papers  Doviestic^  1640-1,  p.  540. 
See  Gardiner,  ix.  pp.  327,  330. 


xl  vlii  INTR  OD  UC  TION. 

of  the  Commons  adds,  "  If  the  House  of  Commons  pro- 
ceed to  demand  judgment  of  the  Lords,  without  doubt 
they  will  acquit  him,  there  being  no  law  extant  where- 
upon to  condemn  him  of  treason.  Wherefore  the 
Commons  are  determined  to  desert  the  Lords' judicature, 
and  to  proceed  against  him  by  Bill  of  Attainder,  whereby 
he  shall  be  adjudged  to  death  upon  a  treason  now  to  be 
declared."^ 

Under  these  circumstances  "the  rigid,  strong,  and 
inflexible  party  "  in  the  Commons  broke  away  from  the 
control  of  their  ordinary  leaders,  and  adopted  the  Bill  of 
Attainder  brought  in  by  Sir  Arthur  Hesilrige.  It  appears 
from  the  diary  of  Sir  Symond  D'Ewes  that  Pym  was 
opposed  to  proceeding  by  Bill  of  Attainder,  and  wished 
to  carry  the  impeachment  to  its  close,  in  which  desire 
he  seems  to  have  been  also  backed  by  Hampden.  The 
Bill  passed  its  first  reading  on  April  lo,  the  second  on 
April  14,  and  the  third  on  April  21. 

One  result  of  this  change  of  procedure  was  that  it 
entirely  altered  the  King's  attitude  towards  Strafford's 
trial.  If  the  Lords  passed  the  Bill  the  King's  confirma- 
tion would  be  required.  "  Unhappy  men,"  says  Baillie, 
"  putts  the  King  daily  in  harder  straits.  Had  the  Com- 
mons gone  on  in  the  former  way  of  pursuit,  the  King 
might  have  been  a  patient,  and  only  beheld  the  striking 
off  of  Strafford's  head ;  but  now  they  have  put  them  on 
a  Bill  which  will  force  the  King  either  to  be  our  agent 
and  formal  voicer   to   his  death,  or  else  do  the  world 

^  Twelfth  Report  of  the  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission,  Coke 
MSS.  ii.  278. 


INTRODUCTION.  xlix 

knows  not  what."^  Strafford's  chief  hope  was  in  the  Lords. 
They  might  decline  to  pass  the  Bill,  or  they  might  suggest 
some  compromise  which  the  Commons  would  be  obliged 
to  accept.  Strafford  himself,  now  less  confident,  suggested 
such  a  middle  course.  "  It  is  told  me,"  he  wrote  to 
Hamilton  on  April  24,  "  that  the  Lords  are  inclinable  to 
preserve  my  life  and  family,  for  which  their  generous 
compassions  the  great  God  of  mercy  will  reward  them ; 
and  surely  should  I  die  upon  this  evidence,  I  had  much 
rather  be  the  sufferer  than  the  judge. 

"  All  that  I  shall  desire  from  your  lordship  is,  that 
divested  of  all  public  employment,  I  may  be  permitted 
to  go  home  to  my  own  private  fortune,  there  to  attend 
my  own  domestic  affairs,  and  education  of  my  children, 
with  as  little  asperity  of  words  or  marks  of  infamy  as 
possibly  the  nobleness  and  justice  of  my  friends  can  pro- 
cure for  me,  with  a  liberty  to  follow  my  own  occasions  as 
I  shall  find  best  for  myself.  This  is  no  unreasonable 
thing  I  trust  to  desire,  all  considered  that  may  be  said  in 
my  case  (for  I  vow  my  fault  that  should  justly  draw  any 
heavy  sentence  on  me,  I  yet  do  not  see :)  yet  this  much 
obtained  will  abundantly  satisfy  a  mind  hasting  first  to 
quiet,  and  a  body  broken  with  afflictions  and  infirmities."  ^ 

A  party  in  the  House  of  Lords,  headed  by  Lords 
Bristol,  Clare,  and  Savile,  endeavoured  to  forward  an 
arrangement  of  the  kind  here  suggested.  The  day  be- 
fore this  letter  to  Hamilton  was  written,  the  King  himself 
had  promised  Strafford  in  words  quoted  by  Browning  on 

1  BaiIHe,  Letters^  ed.  Laing,  p.  350, 

^  Burnet,  Lives  of  the  Hajnilions,  pp.  232,  507,  ed.  1852. 

d 


1  INTRODUCTION. 

p.  252 — that  he  should  not  suffer  in  ''life,  honour,  or 
fortune."  Charles  now  came  forward  himself  and  appealed 
to  the  Lords  to  consent  to  this  compromise.  His  speech  ^ 
was  made  on  May  ist,  and  the  Attainder  Bill  had  passed 
its  second  reading  in  the  Lords  on  April  27th.  A  week 
before  the  speech  might  have  had  some  effect :  it  could 
have  no  effect  now.^ 

More  fatal  even  than  the  King's  hesitation  was  his  in- 
capacity to  confine  himself  to  constitutional  action,  or  to 
adhere  persistently  to  the  policy  of  relying  on  the  Lords. 

Schemes  to  bribe  the  Governor  of  the  Tower  to  let 
Strafford  escape,  or  to  introduce  into  that  fortress  a  body 
of  troops  devoted  to  the  King,  were  connected  with  a 
wider  plot  to  bring  up  the  army  from  the  north  to  over- 
awe the  Parliament.  The  King  was  directly  involved  in 
these  designs,  and  their  disclosure  by  Pym  on  May  5 
ruined  Strafford's  last  hope.  The  suspicions  and  the  fears 
which  their  discovery  excited  put  an  end  to  the  possi- 
bility of  a  compromise  which  should  save  Strafford's  life. 
It  was  the  revelation  of  the  Army  Plot  rather  than  the 
dread  of  mob  violence  which  induced  the  Lords  to  pass 
the  Attainder  Bill.  On  the  morning  of  May  8,^  the 
Bill  passed  the  House  of  Lords  by  26  to  19  votes,  and 
it  was  presented  to  the  King  for  his  assent  on  the  same 
afternoon.  Four  days  earlier  Strafford  had  written  to 
the  King  to  release  him  from  his  promise.^ 

^  P.  264.  2  Gardiner,  History  of  England,  ix.  347. 

^  Gardiner,  ix.   355. 

*  May  4.  See  the  letter  itself  on  p.  266.  Browning  mistakenly 
places  it  after  the  passing  of  the  Bill  by  the  Lords.  See  Gardiner, 
ix.  362. 


INTRODUCTION.  H 

Of  the  struggle  which  the  King  made  before  he  yielded, 
Browning  gives  no  account.  His  Privy  Council  with 
one  accord  advised  him  to  yield.  The  judges  when  con- 
sulted replied  that  they  held  Strafford  to  have  been 
guilty  of  treason.  Out  of  five  bishops  summoned  to  dis- 
cuss the  moral  question,  only  Juxon  and  Usher  advised 
him  to  satisfy  his  conscience  by  refusing  his  assent.  A 
shouting  mob  crowded  the  street  and  threatened  an 
attack  on  Whitehall.  Late  on  the  evening  of  May  9 
Charles  gave  way.  At  last  the  King  protested  at  the 
council  table  that  if  his  person  only  were  in  danger,  he 
would  gladly  venture  it  to  save  Lord  Strafford's  hfe,  but 
seeing  his  wife,  children,  and  all  his  kingdom  were  con- 
cerned in  it,  he  was  forced  to  give  way  unto  it ;  "  which 
he  did  not  express  without  tears."  ^ 

Of  that  consent  Charles  repented  all  his  life.  In 
one  of  his  letters  to  the  Queen  he  speaks  of  "  that  base, 
sinful  concession  concerning  the  Earl  of  Strafford."  In 
another  he  writes,  "  Nothing  can  be  more  evident  than 
that  Strafford's  innocent  blood  hath  been  one  of  the 
great  causes  of  God's  just  judgments  upon  this  nation 
by  a  furious  civil  war  ;  both  sides  hitherto  being  almost 
equally  punished  as  being  in  a  manner  equally  guilty." 
When  he  was  negotiating  with  the  army  in  1647,  Berkeley 
describes  him  as  specially  opposing  the  suggested  pro- 
visions against  his  adherents,  "  saying  that  he  would  have 
no  man  to  suffer  for  his  sake,  and  that  he  repented  of 
nothing  so  much  as  the  Bill  against  my  Lord  Strafford." 

^  Forster,  British  Statesmen^  vi.  71.  Letter  of  the  Elector 
Palatine. 


Hi  INTRODUCTION. 

A  well-known  story  quoted  by  Browning  represents 
Strafford  as  receiving  the  news  that  the  King  had  signed 
the  Bill  with  the  words — "  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes, 
nor  in  the  sons  of  men,  for  in  them  there  is  no  salva- 
tion." ^  The  anecdote  is  generally  quoted  from  White- 
lock  e's  Memorials,  published  in  1682 ;  but  it  first  appeared 
in  1658  in  Sanderson's  Life  and  Reign  of  Charles  I.  A 
more  authentic  record  of  his  feelings  is  contained  in  a 
letter  written  probably  as  soon  as  the  Attainder  Bill  had 
passed  the  Lords.  "  God  have  mercy  on  our  souls,  for 
our  bodies  are  theirs,"  cried  Simon  de  Montfort,  at 
Evesham,  when  he  saw  the;  advancing  standards  of  Prince 
Edward's  host  on  every  side  of  his  little  army.  Strafford 
uses  almost  the  same  words.  "  I  am  lost,"  he  wrote  to 
Guilford  Slingsb)^  "  My  body  is  theirs,  but  my  soul  is 
God's.  There  is  little  trust  in  man  ;  God  may  yet,  if 
it  please  Him,  deliver  me'."  Over  the  letter  by  which 
Strafford  released  the  King  from  his  promises  there  hangs 
a  certain  amount  of  obscurity.  Its  genuineness  has 
been  impugned,  but  without  reason.^  One  authority 
dates  it  May  4,  another  May  7,  a  third  May  9.^  Mr. 
Gardiner  thinks  May  4  the  most  probable  date ;  Browning 
seems  to  adopt  May  9.^  The  letter  illustrates  not  only 
Strafford's  generosity,  but  the  unity  of  aim  which  inspired 
his  political  life.  He  begins  by  saying  that  his  greatest 
grief  is  to  be  thought  to  be  taken  as  a  person  that 
should  endeavour  to  set  things  amiss  between  the  King 

1  P.  272.  2  Rushwortb,  Trial  of  Strafford,  p.  774. 

3  Rushworth,  Trial,  p.  744;  Strafford  Letters,  ii.  432  ;  Brief  and 
Perfect  Relation,  p.  103.  *  P.  266. 


INTRODUCTION.  liii 

and  his  people,  and  protests  that  his  aim  always  had 
been  to  create  a  right  understanding  between  them. 
"  Yet  the  truth  finds  little  credit,  and  I  am  myself  reputed 
the  cause  of  this  great  separation  betwixt  you  and  your 
people.  .  .  .  Here  are  before  me  the  ruin  of  my 
children  and  family.  ...  Here  are  before  me  the  many 
evils  which  may  befall  your  sacred  person  and  the  whole 
kingdom,  should  yourself  and  the  parliament  be  less 
satisfied  the  one  with  the  other  than  is  necessary  for  the 
King  and  people.  Here  are  before  me  the  things  most 
valued,  most  feared,  by  mortal  men — life  and  death." 
His  choice  is  made,  though  not  without  a  conflict.  "  Out 
of  much  sadness  I  am  come  to  a  resolution  of  that  which 
I  take  to  be  best  becoming  me,  that  is,  to  look  upon 
that  which  is  principally  to  be  considered  in.  itself,  and 
that  is  doubtless  the  prosperity  of  your  sacred  person 
and  the  commonwealth. 

"  So  now,  to  set  your  Majesty's  conscience  at  liberty,  I 
do  most  humbly  beseech  you,  for  the  preventing  of  such 
mischiefs  as  may  happen  by  your  refusal,  to  pass  the 
Bill ;  by  this  means  to  remove  .  .  .  this  unfortunate 
thing  forth  of  the  way  towards  that  blessed  agreement, 
which  God,  I  trust,  shall  for  ever  establish  betwixt  you 
and  your  subjects." 

It  is  this  self-sacrifice  which  proves  the  sincerity  of 
Strafford's  political  faith,  and  the  unselfishness  of  the 
purpose  with  which  he  entered  the  King's  service.  He 
had  professed  then  his  desire  to  bring  about  a  good  agree- 
ment between  the  King  and  his  people ;  and  now  when 
he  was  put  to  the  touch — when  he  found  himself  the , 


llv  INTRODUCTION. 

great  obstruction  to  that  agreement — he  offered  his  own 
hfe  to  restore  it,  and  offered  it  not  merely  for  the  King's 
sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  commonwealth  also.  In 
Browning's  play,  when  Pym  speaks  of  his  labours  and  his 
sacrifices  for  England,  Strafford  answers,  "  I  have  loved 
England  too."  The  poet  was  nearer  to  the  truth  than 
the  biographer,  but  to  Englishmen  in  general  Strafford 
was  simply  the  perfect  instrument  of  tyranny  drawn  in 
Browning's  biography.  No  contemporary  narrative  shows 
the  hatred  which  the  people  felt  for  Strafford  so  well  as 
Hollar's  picture  of  his  execution.  In  the  background 
is  the  Tower,  and  further  in  the  distance  are  the  masts 
of  the  ships  in  the  river.  In  the  foreground  stands  the 
scaffold,  Strafford  kneels  before  the  block,  Usher  and  a 
little  group  of  friends  are  beside  him,  the  executioner 
raises  his  axe  to  strike.  On  the  roofs  and  turrets  of  the 
Tower  and  in  all  the  open  space  before  it  presses  an 
innumerable  throng  of  spectators.  Right  up  to  the 
edge  of  the  scaffold  are  wooden  stands  crowded  with 
gazers.  The  Puritanical  citizens  in  their  long  cloaks  and 
steeple  hats  have  brought  their  wives  and  sweethearts 
to  see  the  spectacle.  One  stand  has  broken  down  be- 
neath the  weight  of  the  mass  upon  it.  The  keepers  of  a 
second  are  fighting  with  a  gang  of  young  men  who  are 
trying  to  climb  on  to  it  without  paying.  But  the  eyes  of 
all  the  rest  of  that  great  multitude  are  turned  towards  the 
kneeling  figure,  waiting  for  the  axe  to  fall. 

"  And  to  show  how  mad  this  whole  people  were, 
especially  in  and  about  London,  in  the  evening  of  the  day 
wherein  he  was  executed,  the  greatest  demonstrations  of 


INTRODUCTION.  Iv 

joy  that  possibly  could  be  expressed  ran  through  the 
whole  town  and  country  hereabout ;  and  many  that  came 
up  to  town  on  purpose  to  see  the  execution,  rode  in 
triumph  back,  waving  their  hats,  and  with  all  expressions 
of  joy,  through  every  town  they  went,  crying,  '  His  head  is 
off !  his  head  is  off ! '  and  breaking  the  windows  of  those 
persons  who  would  not  solemnize  this  festival  with  a 
bonfire.     So  ignorant  and  brutish  is  a  multitude."  ^ 

If  Browning,  like  Strafford's  contemporaries,  judges 
the  statesman  with  too  great  harshness,  he  treats  the 
personal  characteristics  and  the  private  life  of  Wentworth 
with  great  fairness.  There  are  however  occasional  errors 
and  omissions  in  his  sketch,  and  on  more  than  one 
point  new  evidence  corrects  and  completes  it.  There 
is  amongst  the  Domestic  State  Papers  a  letter  from 
Sir  Thomas  Roe  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  written  in 
1634,  which  helps  us  to  realize  the  impression  made 
by  Wentworth  on  an  unbiassed  observer.^ 

"The  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland  doth  great  wonders, 
and  governs  like  a  king,  and  hath  taught  that  kingdom 
to  show  us  an  example  of  envy,  by  having  parliaments, 
and  knowing  wisely  how  to  use  them;  for  they  have 
given  the  king  six  subsidies,  which  will  arise  to  ;£"24o,ooo, 
and  they  are  like  to  have  the  liberty  we  contended  for, 
and  grace  from  his  Majesty  worth  their  gift  double ;  and 
which  is  worth  much  more,  the  honour  of  good  intelli- 
gence and  love  between  the  king  and  his  people,  which 
I  would  to  God  our  great  wits  had  had  eyes  to  see. 

^  Memoirs  of  Sir  Philip  Warwick^  p.  163. 

2  Calendar  of  Do77ieslic  State  Papers,  1834-5,  pref.  xxxviii. 


Ivi  INTRODUCTION. 

This  is  a  great  service,  and  to  give  your  Majesty  a 
character  of  the  man, — he  is  severe  abroad  and  in 
business,  and  sweet  in  private  conversation ;  retired  in 
his  friendships,  but  very  firm;  a  terrible  judge  and  a 
strong  enemy ;  a  servant  violently  zealous  in  his  master's 
ends,  and  not  negligent  of  his  own ;  one  that  will  have 
what  he  will,  and  though  of  great  reason,  he  can  make 
his  will  greater  when  it  may  serve  him ;  affecting  glory 
by  a  seeming  contempt ;  one  that  cannot  stay  long  in 
the  middle  region  of  fortune,  being  entreprenant ;  but 
will  either  be  the  greatest  man  in  England,  or  much  less 
than  he  is ;  lastly,  one  that  may  (and  his  nature  lies  fit 
for  it,  for  he  is  ambitious  to  do  what  others  will  not)  do 
your  Majesty  very  great  service,  if  you  can  make  him." 

Another  contemporary,  Sir  Philip  Warwick,  whose 
position  as  Secretary  to  the  Lord  Treasurer  must  have 
brought  him  into  contact  with  Went  worth,  gives  this 
brief  description  of  his  appearance.  "  In  his  person  he 
was  of  a  tall  stature,  but  stooped  much  in  the  neck. 
His  countenance  was  cloudy  whilst  he  moved  or  sat 
thinking,  but  when  he  spake,  either  seriously  or  face- 
tiously, he  had  a  lightsome  and  a  very  pleasant  air ;  and 
indeed  whatever  he  then  did  he  performed  very  grace- 
fully." One  part  of  this  description  recalls  "  the  proud, 
glooming  countenance "  Baillie  speaks  of,  and  "  the 
bent,  ill-favoured  brow  "  Wentworth  himself  refers  to.^ 
It  suggests  also  Macaulay's  description  of  Wentworth's 
"  harsh  dark  features,  and  that  fixed  look,  full  of  severity, 
of  mournful  anxiety,  of  deep  thought,  of  dauntless  reso- 
1  pp.  128,  189,  240. 


INTRODUCTION.  Ivii 

lution,  which  seems  at  once  to  forebode  and  to  defy  a 
terrible  fate,  as  it  lowers  on  us  from  the  living  canvas 
of  Vandyke."  ^ 

Warwick  goes  on  to  tell  a  strange  tale  of  a  vision 
which  half  revealed  to  Wentworth's  father  the  fortmies 
of  his  son.  *'  The  greatness  of  the  envy  that  attended 
him,  made  many  in  their  prognostics  to  bode  him  an  ill 
end;  and  there  went  current  a  story  of  the  dream  of 
his  father,  who  being  both  by  his  wife,  nighest  friends, 
and  physicians,  thought  to  be  at  the  point  of  his  death, 
fell  suddenly  into  so  profound  a  sleep,  and  lay  quietly 
so  long,  that  his  wife,  uncertain  of  his  condition,  drew 
nigh  his  bed,  to  observe  whether  she  could  hear  him 
breathe,  and  gently  touching  him  he  awaked  with  great 
disturbance,  and  told  her  the  reason  was,  she  had  inter- 
rupted him  in  a  dream,  which  most  passionately  he 
desired  to  have  known  the  end  of.  For,  said  he,  I 
dreamed  one  appeared  to  me,  assuring  me  that  I  should 
have  a  son  (for  until  then  he  had  none)  who  should  be 
a  very  great  and  eminent  man  :  but — and  in  this  instant 
thou  didst  awake  me,  whereby  I  am  bereaved  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  farther  fortune  of  the  child.  This  I 
heard  when  this  Lord  was  but  in  the  ascent  of  his 
greatness,  and  long  before  his  fall :  and  afterwards  con- 
ferring with  some  of  his  nighest  relations  I  found  the 
tradition  was  not  disowned.  Sure  I  am,  that  his  station 
was  like  those  turfs  of  earth  or  sea-banks  which,  by  the 
storm  swept  away,  left  all  the  inland  to  be  drowned  by 
popular  tumult."  ^ 

1  Essay  on  Hampden.      ^  Memoirs  of  Sir  P.  Warwick,  p.  112. 


Iviii  INTRODUCTION. 

According  to  Warwick,  Wentworth's  greatest  fault  was 
"  a  sour  and  haughty  temper  ....  a  roughness  in  his 
nature,  which  a  man  no  more  obhged  by  him  than  I  was 
would  have  called  an  injustice;  though  many  of  his 
confidants  who  were  my  good  friends  (when  I,  like  a 
worm,  being  trod  on,  would  turn  and  laugh,  and  under 
that  disguise  say  as  piquant  words  as  my  little  wit  would 
help  me  with)  were  wont  to  swear  to  me,  that  he 
endeavoured  to  be  just  to  all,  but  was  resolved  to  be 
gracious  to  none,  but  to  those  whom  he  thought  in- 
wardly affected  him.  ...  It  was  a  great  infirmity  in 
him  that  he  seemed  to  overlook  so  many  as  he  did; 
since  everywhere,  much  more  in  Court,  the  numerous  or 
lesser  sort  of  attendants  can  obstruct,  create  jealousies, 
spread  ill  reports,  and  do  harm ;  for  as  'tis  impossible 
that  any  power  or  deportment  should  satisfy  all  persons, 
so  there  a  little  friendliness  and  openness  of  carriage 
begets  hope  and  lessens  envy." 

Whilst  Wentworth  took  no  trouble  to  conciliate  his 
inferiors,  he  was  careless  how  many  of  his  equals  he 
offended  in  the  pursuit  of  his  master's  service.  Browning 
relates  at  some  length  his  quarrels  with  Lord  Faucon- 
berg  and  Lord  Mountnorris,  and  quotes  Wentworth's 
defence  of  his  own  severity.  It  was  *'  the  necessity  of 
his  Majesty's  service,"  says  Wentworth,  which  obliged 
him  to  use  "  seeming  strictness,"  instead  of  "  gracious 
smiles  and  gentle  looks."  One  of  the  most  serious  of 
the  feuds  in  which  this  conception  of  his  duty  engaged 
him  was  that  with  the  Earl  of  Cork.^ 

^  pp.  ii6,  192,  195,  201,  208. 


INTRODUCTION.  lix 

Hitherto  we  have  only  had  Strafford's  account  of  the 
dispute,  but  lately  the  Earl  of  Cork's  story  has  been 
published.^  In  his  diary  Cork  describes  the  landing  of 
the  new  Lord  Deputy  at  Dublin  (July  23rd,  1633),  and 
the  civilities  which  passed  at  their  first  meeting.  "  A 
most  cursed  man  to  all  Ireland,  and  to  me  in  particular," 
is  the  note  on  the  Lord  Deputy's  character  which  he 
added  later.  The  first  quarrel  arose  over  a  tomb  which 
Cork  had  erected  in  the  chancel  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral, 
and  which  Strafford  at  Laud's  instigation  obliged  him  to 
remove.  2  A  much  more  serious  struggle  took  place 
concerning  certain  church  lands  which  Cork  had  suc- 
ceeded in  securing.  He  was  charged  with  having 
fraudulently  obtained  possession  of  the  revenues  of  the 
College  of  Youghal,  prosecuted  in  the  Castle  Chamber, 
sentenced  to  lose  the  greater  part  of  the  property  in 
question,  and  to  pay  the  King  a  fine  of  ^15,000.  Cork 
describes  in  detail  his  interviews  with  Strafford  con- 
cerning this  suit.^  The  Lord  Deputy  had  urged  him 
many  times  not  to  stand  to  his  justification,  but  to 
compromise  the  matter  and  submit  to  a  fine.  The  Lord 
Chancellor  and  the  Primate  gave  similar  advice.  At 
last  after  many  struggles  he  yielded  to  the  Lord  Deputy's 

^  The  Lismore  Papers,  Diaries  and  Letters  of  Richard  Boyle,  first 
Earl  of  Cork,  from  MSS.  belonging  to  the  Duke  of  Devonshire, 
preserved  at  Lismore  Castle,  10  volumes,  edited  by  Rev.  A.  B. 
Grosart,  D.D.  (for  private  circulation),  1886— 1888. 

2  pp.  165,  171. 

^  See  Lismore  Papers,  Series  I.  vol.  iv.  p.  184  ;  Series  XL  vol.  iii. 
pp.  247 — 259.  On  the  question  of  the  tomb  erected  by  the  Earl  of 
Cork,  see  Lismore  Papers,  I.  iii.  pp.  171,  175  ;  iv.  pp.  12,  39,  133. 


Ix  INTRODUCTION. 

menaces.  On  May  2,  1636,  when  the  final  hearing  of 
the  case  was  to  have  taken  place,  Cork  was  called  into 
the  Lord  Deputy's  Chamber.  "  As  soon  as  I  came  in," 
writes  Cork,  "  the  Lord  Deputy  asked  me  whether  I 
would  have  war  or  peace.  I  told  him  I  did  pursue 
peace,  but  it  flew  from  me."  Then  he  replied,  ''  I  have 
offered  you  peace,  and  sent  many  messengers  in  to  you, 
but  you  will  not  embrace  it ;  and  therefore  I  now  must 
needs  enter  into  the  lists  against  you,  and  I  do  vow  that 
I  will  censure  you  to  pay  the  King  thirty  thousand 
pounds,  take  away  the  office  of  Treasurer  from  you,  and 
send  you  prisoner  to  the  Castle  of  Dublin  before  I  come 
back  hither  again.  And  therefore  it  will  behove  you 
now  to  make  such  an  offer  as  is  fitt  for  me  in  his 
Majesty's  name  to  accept  of."  I  told  him  the  offer  I 
had  made  by  my  son  was  rejected,  and  therefore  I  had 
made  a  vow  never  to  make  an  offer  again,  "  Then  let 
the  Master  of  the  Wards  make  an  offer  for  you,  for  he 
knows  my  mind."  Seeing  no  other  remedy  Cork  allowed 
the  Master  of  the  Court  of  Wards  to  offer  in  his  name  a 
composition  of  ;£  15,000  and  the  surrender  of  a  portion 
of  the  property  in  question.  "  I  am  to  pay  his  Majesty 
for  my  redemption  out  of  the  Court  of  Castle  Chamber, 
though  my  innocency  and  integrity  be  clear  as  the  sun 
at  high  noon,  and  that  my  own  conscience  neither  doth 
nor  can  accuse  me  of  any  wilful  crime  or  abuse  worth 
any  censure,  yet  to  prevent  censure  I  have  yielded  to 
pay  the  King  ;^5,ooo  in  hand,  ;£"5,ooo  more  on 
Midsummer  Day  1637,  and  another  ;£"5,ooo,  to  make 
my  last  payment,  on  Midsummer  Day  1638,  in  all  fifteen 


INTRODUCTION.  Ixi 

thousand  pounds  sterling,  for  which  fine,  or  rather  high 
ransom  thus  undeservedly  imposed  upon  me,  God  forgive 
the  Lord  Deputy  and  his  great  Councillor,  Sir  George 
RadcHffe;  yet  as  God  shall  enable  me,  I  will  by  his 
grace  pay  it  freely  and  willingly,  for  that  it  is  to  come  to 
my  good  and  gracious  king  and  master,  for  whose  service 
I  would  most  willingly  sacrifice  life  and  estate.  And 
my  soul  assures  me  so  fully  of  his  Majesty's  religiousness 
and  justice,  that  if  he  were  rightly  informed  how  un- 
deservedly this  mighty  fine  is  thus  drawn  from  me,  he 
would  not  take  one  penny  thereof." 

Three  days  later  Cork  had  another  altercation  with 
Wentworth.  "  I  prayed  him  to  consider  well,  whether 
in  justice  he  could  impose  so  great  a  fine  upon  me." 
Whereunto  he  replied,  "God's  wounds.  Sir,  when  the 
-last  Parliament  in  England  brake  up,  you  lent  the  King 
fifteen  thousand  pounds.  And  afterwards  in  a  very 
uncivil,  unmannerly  manner  you  pressed  his  Majesty  to 
repay  it  you.  Whereupon  I  resolved  before  I  came  out 
of  England  to  fetch  it  back  again  from  you  by  one  means 
or  other.  And  now  I  have  gotten  what  I  desired,  you 
and  I  will  be  friends  hereafter." 

It  was  too  late,  however,  to  be  friends  with  the  man 
whom  he  had  so  humbled.  The  Lord  Deputy  gave 
stately  entertainments  to  the  Earl  of  Cork,  dropped  in 
to  dinner  with  him  in  a  gracious  and  friendly  way; 
played  cards  with  him  and  lost  a  few  pounds  over  the 
game  of  maw,  stood  god-father  to  his  grandchildren,  and 
was  solemnly  reconciled  with  him  by  Laud.  All  this 
was  useless.     The  injury  he  had  done  to  Cork  was  too 


Ixii  INTRODUCTION. 

great  to  be  forgotten.  Cork's  treatment  was  one  of  the 
charges  against  Strafford  at  his  trial.  "Old  Richard," 
writes  Strafford,  "  has  sworn  against  me  gallantly."  With 
vengeful  joy  Cork  jots  down  in  his  diary  the  circumstances 
of  Strafford's  impeachment  before  the  Lords.  "  His 
Lordship  was  called  into  the  House  as  a  delinquent,  and 
brought  to  the  bar  upon  his  knees  (I  sitting  in  my  place 
covered),  where  the  charge  of  high  treason  being  objected 
against  him,  he  being  not  permitted  then  to  speak  in  his 
defence,  was  presently  committed  to  Mr.  James  Maxwell. 
And  this  his  dejection  shows  the  uncertainty  whereunto 
the  greatest  men  are  subject  unto."  With  equal  satis- 
faction he  notes  the  termination  of  the  trial.  "This 
day  after  many  long  debates,  and  several  hearings,  the 
oppressing  Earl  of  Strafford,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
was  by  parliament  attainted  of  high  treason,  where  I  sat 
present,  but  eleven  voices  of  all  the  Lords  declaring  not 
content;  and  the  12th  of  this  month  he  was  beheaded 
on  the  Tower  Hill  of  London,  as  he  well  deserved."  ^ 

In  discussing  Strafford's  friendships  and  enmities,  the 
question  of  his  personal  relations  with  Pym  naturally 
demands  consideration.  The  tradition  of  their  early 
friendship  supplies  one  of  the  leading  motives  of  Brown- 
ing's play,  and  is  also  referred  to  in  this  biography.  2 
In  the  year  1700,  Dr.  James  Welwood,  one  of  the 
physicians  of  William  III.,  published  a  volume  entitled 
Memoirs  of  the  most  material  transactions  in  England 

^  LisjHore  Papers^   Series  I.  iv.  pp.  142,  147,   150,   166 ;  v.  pp. 
164,  176. 
-  pp.  i43»  240. 


INTRODUCTION.  Ixiii 

for  the  last  hundred  years  preceding  the  Revolution  of 
1688.  It  consists  of  historical  anecdotes  and  traditions, 
but  does  contain  a  certain  amount  of  fact  and  a  few 
documents.  Speaking  of  Strafford,  Welwood  tells  the 
following  story.i  "  There  had  been  a  long  and  intimate 
friendship  betwixt  Mr.  Pym  and  him,  and  they  had  gone 
hand  in  hand  in  everything  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
But  when  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth  was  upon  making  his 
peace  with  the  Court,  he  sent  to  Pym  to  meet  him  alone 
at  Greenwich ;  where  he  began  in  a  set  speech  to  sound 
Mr.  Pym  about  the  dangers  they  were  like  to  run  by  the 
courses  they  were  in ;  and  what  advantages  they  might 
have  if  they  would  but  listen  to  some  offers  which  would 
probably  be  made  them  from  the  Court.  Pym  under- 
standing his  speech  stopped  him  short  with  this  ex- 
pression :  "  You  need  not  use  all  this  art  to  tell  me  you 
have  a  mind  to  leave  us ;  but  remember  what  I  tell  you, 
you  are  going  to  be  undone.  But  remember,  that  though 
you  leave  us  now  I  will  never  leave  you  while  your  head 
is  upon  your  shoulders."  The  incident  is  not  very 
probable,  and  though  Welwood  might  have  heard  the 
story  from  some  good  source  he  does  not  mention  his 
authority.  He  certainly  exaggerates  their  political  agree- 
ment and  perhaps  their  personal  intimacy  also.  The 
papers  of  Pym  and  Wentworth,  so  far  as  they  have 
survived,  give  no  support  to  the  story  of  their  friendship. 
On  the  other  hand  there  can  be  Httle  doubt  that  the  two 
men  were  well  acquainted  with  each  other,  though  one 
was  a  Devonshire  man  and  the  other  a  Yorkshire  man. 


Ixiv  INTRODUCTION. 

Pym  entered  the  Middle  Temple  in  1607,  and  seems  to 
have  lived  generally  in  London.  Wentworth  entered 
the  Inner  Temple  in  1607,  and  studied  law  much  more 
seriously  than  most  gentlemen  of  his  wealth  and  rank. 
More  than  one  of  his  despatches  and  the  whole  of  his 
defence  bear  witness  to  the  extent  and  thoroughness  of 
his  legal  knowledge.  According  to  Radclifife  "he  was 
excellently  well  studied  in  that  part  of  the  English  law 
that  concerns  the  office  of  a  justice  of  peace;  insomuch 
that  one  of  the  judges  of  assize,  a  great  lawyer,  was  well 
pleased  to  learn  his  opinion  in  a  matter  about  the  poor 
and  the  statutes  made  concerning  them.  By  constant 
attention  at  the  Star  Chamber  for  seven  years  together, 
he  learned  the  course  of  that  Court.  .  .  .  He  spent 
eight  years'  time,  besides  his  pains  and  money,  in  solicit- 
ing the  businesses  and  suits  of  his  nephews,  going  every 
term  to  London  about  that  only,  without  missing  one 
term  in  thirty,  as  I  verily  believe."^  It  was  probably 
while  Wentworth  attended  the  Law  Courts  and  pursued 
his  legal  studies,  between  16 14  and  1624,  that  his 
intimacy  with  Pym  began,  and  it  was  doubtless  cemented 
by  their  association  in  the  parliaments  of  1621  and 
1624.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Welwood  is  right 
in  representing  it  as  coming  to  a  sudden  end  in  1628, 
when  Wentworth  became  one  of  the  King's  ministers. 
In  his  letters,  when  Strafford  had  occasion  to  mention 
Pym,  he  speaks  of  him  with  a  certain  scorn ;  "  your 
Prynnes  and  Pyms,  a  generation  of  odd  names  and  odd 
natures."  2  He  says  nothing  of  any  past  intimacy.  Pym 
1  Strafford,  Letters^  ii.  pp.  434,  436.  ^  Strafford,  Letters. 


INTRODUCTION.  Ixv 

on  the  other  hand,  on  Nov.  24th,  1640,  when  he  reported 
to  the  House  of  Commons  the  charges  against  Strafford, 
began  his  speech  by  saying  that  he  had  "  long  known 
the  person  charged  by  acts  of  friendship."  ^ 

When  the  trial  opened,  Pym  attacked  Strafford  with 
extraordinary  bitterness,  to  which  Strafford  replied  that 
"he  hoped  shortly  to  clear  himself  of  all  those  foul 
aspersions  which  his  malicious  enemies  had  cast  upon 
him."  Pym  accused  him  at  once  of  insulting  the  House 
of  Commons  by  calling  them  his  malicious  enemies. 
''Whereupon  the  Lieutenant  falling  down  upon  his 
knees  humbly  besought  them  that  they  would  not 
mistake  him,  and  withall  gave  a  large  panaegyrique  of 
their  most  just  and  moderate  proceedings,  protesting 
that  if  he  himself  had  been  one  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  (as  he  had  the  honour  once  to  be),  he 
would  not  have  advised  them  to  have  done  otherwise 
against  his  dearest  friend ;  but  withall  told  them  that  he 
might  justly  say  he  had  his  owne  un-friends,  which  hee 
hoped  in  time  to  make  known ;  nor  did  he  all  this  time 
speake  one  bitter  word  against  Master  Pym,  thougli 
justly  incensed,  which  hath  infinitely  advanced  his 
reputation." 

The  next  day,  in  answer  to  a  speech  from  Glyn, 
Strafford  said  "  That  it  did  strike  him  to  the  heart  to  be 
attacked  of  such  a  wicked  crime  by  such  honourable 
persons,  yea  that  it  wounded  him  deeper  in  regard  that 
such  persons  who  were  the  companions  of  his  youth,  and 

^  Note-Book  of  Sir  John  Northcote,  ed.  by  A.  H.  A.  Hamilton, 
1877,  p.  I. 

e 


Ixvi  INTRODUCTION. 

with  whom  he  had  spent  the  best  of  his  days,  should 
now  rise  up  in  judgment  against  him."  ^ 

The  last  of  these  passages  may  no  doubt  refer  to  the 
managers  of  the  impeachment  in  general,  and  not  to 
Pym  in  particular.  The  earlier  one  seems  to  me  directly 
aimed  at  Pym.  It  contains  just  the  brief  sarcastic  refer- 
ence to  their  old  friendship  which  a  proud  man  might 
make  to  an  old  friend  who  had  unjustly  accused  him. 

Browning  draws  a  dramatic  picture  of  Pym  suddenly 
meeting  Strafford's  gaze,  and  losing  his  self-possession 
"  when  he  met  the  fixed  and  wasted  features  of  his  early ' 
associate."  But  there  is  no  evidence  for  this  striking 
incident.  All  that  the  authorities  say  is,  that  during 
Pym's  answer  to  Strafford's  defence  his  memory  for  a 
moment  failed  him.^ 

Strafford's  friendship  with  Laud,  which  Browning  also 
discusses,^  has  been  further  illustrated  since  he  wrote, 
by  the  publication  of  fifty  letters  from  the  Archbishop  to 
the  Lord-Deputy.*  The  intimacy  and  the  confidence 
between  the  two  men  rose  naturally  from  their  characters 
and  position.  Each  had  an  unselfish  devotion  to  the 
Monarch  he  served,  and  to  the  ideas  which  he  hoped  to 
realize  through  the  Monarchy.  Each  needed  a  friend 
and  ally.  "  I  am  alone,"  wrote  Laud  to  Wentworth,  "  in 
those  things  which  draw  not  private  profit  after  them." 

^  A  B^'iefe  and  Perfect  Relation  of  the  Answers  and  Replies  of 
Thomas,  Earle  of  Strafford,  ap.y  1647,  pp.  7,  8. 

2  P.  263.  Bailliis  Letters,  i.  348  ;  Brief e  and  Perfect  Relation, 
p.  67.  3  p.   163, 

^  Laud's  Works,  vol.  vii.  Library  of  Anglo-Catholic  Theology, 
i860. 


INTRODUCTION.  Ixvii 

Wentvvorth  describes  the  Irish  officials  as  "  a  company 
of  men  the  most  intent  upon  their  own  ends  which  ever 
I  met  with,"  and  himself  as  "  charged  with  many  cares, 
and  like  to  bear  out  the  heat  of  the  day  alone.  Without 
Radcliffe  and  Wandesford  sure  I  were  the  most  solitary 
man  that  ever  served  a  king  in  such  a  place."  To 
succeed  in  Ireland  he  needed  assistance  against  court 
intrigues  in  England,  and  therefore  besought  Laud  for 
his  "  continued  hand  of  support  and  help."  What  was 
at  first  a  political  alliance  became  in  the  end  a  close  and 
uninterrupted  friendship.^ 

In  the  same  way  Strafford's  famous  friendship  with 
Lady  Carlisle  grew  out  of  his  need  of  an  ally  near  the 
Queen.  "I  judge  her  ladyship  very  considerable,"  he 
wrote  to  Laud  in  1637;  "she  is  often  in  place,  and 
extremely  well  skilled  how  to  speak  with  advantage  and 
spirit  for  those  friends  she  professeth  unto,  which  will 
not  be  many.  There  is  this  further  in  her  disposition, 
she  will  not  seem  to  be  the  person  she  is  not,  an  in- 
genuity I  have  always  observed  and  honoured  her  for."^ 

The  story  which  represents  Lady  Carlisle  as  Strafford's 
mistress  seems  based  on  a  misunderstanding  both  of  her 
character  and  of  Straiford's.  Her  beauty  brought  her 
adorers  of  all  ranks,  courtiers,  and  poets,  and  statesmen  ; 
but  she  remained  untouched  by  their  worship.  "  Yet 
will  she  freely  discourse  of  love,"  writes  Toby  Mathews,^ 

1  Strafford s  Letters,  i.  96,  194,  300. 

2  Ibid.  ii.  120. 

^  A  collection  of  letters  made  by  Sir  Tobie  Mathews,  Kt,,  with  a 
character  of  the  most  excellent  Lady,  Lucy,  Countess  of  Carlisle, 
1660. 


Ixviii  INTRODUCTION. 

'^  and  hear  both  the  fancies  and  powers  of  it  \  but  if  you 
will  needs  bring  it  within  knowledge,  and  boldly  direct 
it  to  herself,  she  is  likely  to  divert  the  discourse,  or,  at 
least,  seem  not  to  understand  it.  By  which  you  may 
know  her  humour,  and  her  justice  ;  for  since  she  cannot 
love  in  earnest,  she  would  have  nothing  from  Love.  So 
contenting  herself  to  play  with  love,  as  with  a  child." 
She  filled  her  mind,  he  continues,  "  with  gallant  fancies, 
and  high  and  elevated  thoughts,"  and  "  her  wit  being 
most  eminent  among  the  rest  of  her  great  abilities," 
affected  the  conversation  of  those  who  were  most  famed 
for  it.  Later  still  she  chose  her  friends  amongst  those 
"of  the  most  eminent  condition,  both  for  power  and 
employments,"  sought  to  influence  the  men  who  guided 
events,  and  found  her  pleasure  in  political  intrigues. 

A  contemporary  compares  her  to  Sempronia,  "  the 
great  stateswoman,"  of  Jonson's  Catiline.  This  love  of 
power  was  what  attracted  her  to  Strafford,  and  their 
intimacy  needs  no  other  explanation.  "  A  nobler  nor  a 
more  intelligent  friendship,"  writes  Strafford,  *'  did  I 
never  meet  with  in  my  life."  ^ 

Browning  describes  Strafford  as  "  a  man  of  intrigue," 
and  mentions,  besides  Lady  Carlisle,  Lady  Carnarvon 
and  Lady  Loftus  as  his  mistresses.^  But  these  state- 
ments are  based  on  very  insufficient  evidence.  In  the 
case  of  Lady  Carnarvon  the  suggestion  is  entirely  based 
on  a  confusion  of  names.  Lord  Conway  in  a  letter  to 
the  Lord-Deputy  tells  a  certain  story  of  Lord  Wentworth 
and  Lady  Carnarvon,  which  is  quoted  in  full  by  Browning 

1  Whitaker,  Life  of  Sir  G.  Radcliffe,  p.  221.  2  p^  129. 


INTRODUCTION.  Ixix 

on  p.  130.  But  the  Lord  Wentworth  there  referred  to 
is  not  the  Lord-Deputy  himself,  but  his  young  kinsman 
Thomas  Wentworth,  son  of  Thomas  Wentworth,  Earl  of 
Cleveland  and  Baron  Wentworth  of  Nettlested.  Up  to 
1640  the  younger  Thomas  Wentworth  was  styled  by 
courtesy  Lord  Wentworth,  and  in  that  year  he  was 
summoned  to  the  House  of  Lords  as  Lord  Wentworth 
of  Nettlested.  He  is  mentioned  in  a  song  on  the 
gallants  of  the  time,  and  in  the  answer  to  it,  amongst 
"  the  wags  wantonly-minded  and  merry  conceited," 
"jovial  boys  as  ever  tavern  bred,"  whose  special  quahfi- 
cations  were  drinking  and  courting  ladies. ^  In  the  Civil 
Wars  he  served  under  Prince  Rupert,  was  a  well-known 
cavalry  leader,  and  died  in  1664.2 

The  Lady  Loftus  mentioned  by  Browning  was  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Ruish,  who  married  in  1621  Sir 
Robert  Loftus,  son  of  that  Irish  Lord  Chancellor  with 
whom  Strafford  had  such  a  violent  quarrel.  The  state- 
ment that  she  was  Strafford's  mistress  is  based  on  a 
passage  in  Clarendon,  who  speaks  of  letters  from  Strafford 
to  that  lady,  "  found  in  her  cabinet  after  her  death,"  and 
made  public  during  Strafford's  impeachment.^  There  is 
no  trace  of  any  such  letters,  or  of  any  imputation  based 
on  them,  in  the  voluminous  records  of  Strafford's  trial. 
Such  a  charge,  however,  was  made  by  some  of  the 
libellous  pamphlets  of  the  period,  and  was  probably 
carelessly  taken  from  them  by  Clarendon. ^     The  rumour 

^    Wit  Restored,  ed.  Hotten,  pp.  134,  136. 

^  Collins'  Peerage,  ed.  Brydges,  vi.  208. 

^  Pp.  132,  214.  ■*  Somers  Tracts,  ed,  Scott,  iv.  286. 


Ixx  INTRODUCTION. 

is  mentioned  by  Sir  Philip  Warwick,  but  evidence  of  any 
other  kind  is  entirely  lacking.  The  intimacy  between 
Strafford  and  Lady  Loftus  is  sufficiently  accounted  for 
by  the  fact  that  his  brother  Sir  George  Wentworth  had 
married  her  younger  sister,  Frances  Ruish.^  "Strafford's 
own  language  in  speaking  of  the  lady  is  inconsistent 
with  the  charge,  whilst  the  respectful  admiration  which 
it  reveals  would  account  for  the  rise  of  scandalous 
rumours."  2  He  writes  to  Conway  on  Aug.  13,  1639, 
saying,  ''  we  have  sadly  buried  my  Lady  Loftus,  one  of 
the  noblest  persons  I  ever  had  the  happiness  to  be 
acquainted  with ;  and  as  I  had  received  greater  obliga- 
tions from  her  ladyship  than  from  all  Ireland  beside,  so 
with  her  are  gone  the  greatest  part  of  my  affections  to 
the  country ;  and  all  that  is  left  of  them  shall  be  thank- 
fully and  religiously  paid  to  her  excellent  memory  and 
lasting  goodness."  ^ 

The  chief  subject  of  disagreement  between  the  Lord 
Deputy  and  Chancellor  Loftus  was  the  refusal  of  the 
latter  to  make  the  settlement  on  his  daughter-in-law 
which  had  been  promised  when  the  marriage  took  place. 
Wentworth  and  the  Irish  Council  made  a  decree  en- 
forcing this  settlement  (Feb.  i,  1638),  which  was  reversed 
by  the  Long  Parliament  (May  3,  1642),  and  the  whole 
question  was  again  tried  by  the  House  of  Lords  during 

^  The  Fairfax  Correspondence^  vol.  i.  pp.  Ixi — Ixvii,  contains  half 
a  dozen  letters  from  Wentworth,  relative  to  the  marriage  of  his 
brother ;  two  are  addressed  to  Lady  Jephson,  mother  of  Lady 
Loftus,  and  two  to  Frances  Ruish  herself. 

2  Gardiner,  History  of  England^  ix.  71. 

^  Strafford  Letters,  ii.  381. 


INTRODUCTION.  Ixxi 

the  reign  of  Charles  II.  Had  there  been  any  truth  in 
this  particular  charge,  it  would  assuredly  have  been 
brought  forward  in  the  course  of  these  proceedings ;  but 
the  very  numerous  petitions  and  papers  relating  to  the 
case  contain  no  trace  of  any  such  accusation.^ 

Browning  justly  refuses  to  credit  Baillie's  scandalous 
story  of  the  death  of  Strafford's  second  wife,  Arabella 
Holies,  and  it  has  since  been  effectually  refuted  by  a 
letter  published  amongst  the  Fairfax  papers. ^  On  the 
other  hand  he  is  hardly  fair  in  his  criticisms  of  Strafford's 
behaviour  to  his  third  wife,  seeing  how  little  is  really 
known  about  the  circumstances  of  the  marriage.  Brown- 
ing prints  at  length  five  letters  from  Strafford  to  this 
lady.^  These  five  letters  were  given  in  1686  to  Ralph 
Thoresby,  preserved  in  his  Museum  at  Leeds,  and  first 
printed  in  the  article  on  Strafford  in  Biographia  Britan- 
nica  (1766).  The  author  of  the  article  also  gave  extracts 
from  eight  other  letters  which,  since  the  dispersion  of 
Thoresby's  Museum,  have  entirely  disappeared.  Fortu- 
nately part  of  the  correspondence  had  remained  in  the 
possession  of  the  Rhodes  family,  descended  to  Lord 
Houghton,  and  was  printed  by  him  in  the  miscellany  of 
the  Philobiblion  Society.  These  letters,  eleven  in  all, 
are  reprinted  by  Miss  Elizabeth  Cooper  in  her  Life  of 
Strafford, 

A  few  words  in  conclusion,  on  the  sources  of  informa- 

^  See  Mr.  Gilbert's  report  on  the  papers  of  the  Marquis  of 
Drogheda,  Ninth  Report  Historical  MSS.  Commission,  Pt.  ii.  pp. 
293—328.  ^  Pp.  94,  260 ;  Fairfax  Correspondence,  i.  237. 

2  Pp.  120,  242,  245. 


Ixxii  INTRODUCTION. 

tion  for  Strafford's  life.  Some  authorities  accessible  in 
1836  were  neglected  by  the  author  of  this  life,  no  doubt 
owing  to  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  written. 
The  two  volumes  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Parliamejit 
of  1620 — 162 1,  published  at  Oxford  in  1766,  would 
have  explained  Wentworth's  political  position  at  the 
outset  of  his  parliamentary  career.  More  important  is 
Dr.  Whitaker's  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Sir  George 
Radcliffe,  published  in  18 10,  containing  a  number  of 
letters  from  Wentworth  to  his  friend,  some  of  which  are 
of  the  highest  interest.  Additional  letters  of  less  value 
were  also  in  print  in  Carte's  Life  of  Ormond,  1735, 
and  Berwick's  Rawdon  Papers^  ^819. 

The  amount  of  new  material  published  since  1836  is 
of  course  much  more  considerable.  The  publication  of 
the  Calendars  of  the  English  Domestic  State  Papers 
has  elucidated  many  points  in  Wentwortli's  career  in 
England,  and  made  plain  the  problems  with  which  he 
had  to  deal.  By  the  aid  of  these  papers  Mr.  J.  J. 
Cartwright  has  narrated  in  detail  Wentworth's  early 
contests  for  power  in  his  native  county,  and  his  govern- 
ment of  it  as  President  of  the  Council  of  the  North 
(Chapters  from  Yorkshire  History^  1872).  Wentworth's 
part  in  the  early  parliaments  of  Charles  I.  and  his  share 
in  the  struggle  for  the  ''Petition  of  Right"  has  been 
for  the  first  time  made  clear  in  Mr.  Gardiner's  History 
of  Englaiid  from  the  Accession  of  James  I.  to  the  Out- 
break of  the  Civil  War.  Even  for  the  history  of  Went- 
worth's government  of  Ireland  much  new  evidence  has 
been   added   to   the   papers   printed   in  Dr.  Knowler's 


INTRODUCTION.  Ixxiii 

folios.  Unfortunately  the  originals  of  those  papers,  and 
the  great  collection  from  which  they  are  extracted,  are 
still  inaccessible  to  historians.  According  to  Hunter, 
who  seems  to  have  been  specially  privileged — "  A  vast 
mass  of  Strafford's  correspondence  remains  behind,  in 
what  is  called  the  Earl  of  Strafford's  chest,  in  the 
archives  at  Wentworth  House,  well  arranged  and  bound 
in  volumes."  ^  From  this  source  nevertheless  came  the 
additional  letters  from  Laud  to  Wentworth  before 
mentioned.  The  private  archives  of  Ireland  have  also 
yielded  something.  From  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's 
papers  at  Lismore  Castle,  we  have  obtained  the  diary 
of  the  Earl  of  Cork,  and  from  the  Marquis  of  Drogheda's 
come  a  mass  of  papers  relating  to  the  quarrel  with  Lord 
Chancellor  Loftus. 

Other  smaller  fragments  of  Strafford's  correspondence 
are  scattered  up  and  down  the  various  collections  of 
State  Papers  published  of  late  years.  Four  letters  from 
him  to  the  Earl  of  CarHsle  were  printed  in  1883  in  vol. 
viii.  of  the  Camden  Miscellanyy  and  ten  more  are 
contained  in  the  recently  printed  report  on  the  Coke 
Papers  at  Melbourne.  The  arrangement  of  the  papers 
of  the  House  of  Lords  has  led  to  the  discovery  of  the 
originals  of  two  very  important  papers.  One  is  the 
copy  of  Sir  Henry  Vane's  notes  of  the  debate  in  the 
Privy  Council  which  had  so  great  a  share  in  bringing 
Strafford  to  the  block.  The  other  is  the  King's  famous 
letter  to  the  House  of  Lords  after  he  had  passed  the  bill 
of  attainder  against  the  Earl.     "  If  he  must  Dey,  it  wer  a 

^  Hunter,  South  Yorkshire^  ii.  84. 


Ixxiv  INTRODUCTION. 

Charitie  to  repryve  untill  Saterday."  The  errors  and 
corrections  of  the  letter  testify  to  the  perturbation  of  the 
unhappy  King.i 


A    TABLE 

OF    THE    PRINCIPAL    DATES    AND    EVENTS    IN    THE 

LIFE    OF    THOMAS    WENTWORTH,    EARL    OF    STRAFFORD. 

Born,  April  13,  1593; 

knighted  by  James  I.,  December  6,  161 1  ; 

travelled  in  France  and  Italy,  December  161 2 — February 

1614; 
succeeded  his  father  as  second  baronet,  September  16 14; 
appointed   Gustos   Rotulorum  for  the  West   Riding  of 

Yorkshire,  Dec.  161 5; 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the  North,  July 

10,  1619 ; 
High  Sheriff  of  Yorkshire,  November  13,  1626; 
committed  to  the  Marshalsea  for  refusing  the  loan,  May 

1627; 
created  Baron  Wentworth  of  Wentworth  Woodhouse,  July 

22,  1628  ; 
created  Viscount  Wentworth,  December  13,  1628,  and 
appointed  president  of  the  Council  of  the  North  ; 
made  a  privy-councillor,  November  10,  1629  ; 
appointed  Lord-Deputy  of  Ireland,  January  6,  1632; 
landed  in  Ireland,  July  23,  1633; 
created  Earl  of  Strafford,  January  12,  1640; 

^  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission   on  Historical  Manuscripts^ 
I.  10;  ibid.  III.  3. 


INTRODUCTION.  Ixxv 

appointed  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  January  13,  1640; 
leaves  Ireland  for  the  last  time,  April  13,  1640; 
captain-general  of  the  Irish  army,  August  3,  1640 ; 
lieutenant-general  of  the  army  in  England,  August  18, 1640; 
Knight  of  the  Garter,  September  12,  1640; 
sent  to  the  Tower,  November  it,  1640  ; 
beheaded.  May  12,  1641. 

Thomas  Wentworth  married — 

(i)  Oct.  22,  161 1,  Lady  Margaret  Clifford,  eldest  daughter 

of  Francis  fourth  Earl  of  Cumberland;    she    died 

Aug.  1622. 

(2)  Feb.  24,  1625,  Lady  Arabella  Holies,  second  daughter 
of  John  first  Earl  of  Clare  ;  she  died  Oct.  1631. 

(3)  Oct.  1632,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Godfrey  Rhodes. 

Strafford  left  three  daughters  and  one  son.  The 
youngest  daughter,  Margaret,  died  unmarried;  the 
second,  Arabella,  left  no  issue ;  the  eldest,  Anne, 
married  in  1654  Edward  Watson,  second  Lord  Rock- 
ingham. Their  son,  William,  second  Earl  of  Strafford, 
died  in  1695,  leaving  no  children.  "With  him  ended," 
says  Hunter,  "  the  regular  male  succession  of  the 
Wentworths  of  Wentworth  Woodhouse,  which  had  con- 
tinued from  the  timo  of  Henry  III."  ^  The  honours  of 
the  family  became  extinct,  except  the  "barony  of  Raby, 
which  descended  to  Thomas  Wentworth,  grandson  of 
Sir  William  Wentworth  the  great  earl's  younger  brother. 
This  Thomas  Wentworth  distinguished  himself  as  a 
soldier  and  diplomatist,  was  one  of  the  negotiators  of 
^  South  Yorkshire,  ii.  89. 


Ixxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  and  was  created  Earl  of  Strafford 
by  Queen  Anne  in  171 1.  -  The  second  line  of  Earls  of 
Strafford  which  he  founded  became  extinct  in  1799. 
But  the  title  of  Earl  of  Strafford  was  revived  in  1847 
in  favour  of  John  Byng,  great  grandson  of  the  negotiator 
of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  whose  grandson  is  the  present 
Earl  of  Strafford. 

Woodhouse  and  the  other  estates  of  the  great  Earl 
of  Strafford  passed  to  Thomas  Watson,  the  third  son  of 
his  daughter  Anne  and  Lord  Rockingham,  who  assumed 
the  name  of  Wentworth.  His  son,  successively  created 
Lord  Malton  (1728),  Earl  of  Malton  (1734),  and  Marquis 
of  Rockingham  (1746),  published  the  collection  of 
Strafford's  letters,  and  was  the  father  of  Charles  Watson 
Wentworth,  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  twice  Prime  Minister 
of  George  III.  On  Rockingham's  death  in  1782  the 
Wentworth  estates  passed  to  the  Fitzwilliam  family,  his 
sister  Anne  having  married  William,  Earl  FitzwiUiam. 
Her  son,  the  popular  Earl  Fitzwilliam  who  was  Lord 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland  in  1795,  took  the  arms  of 
Wentworth,  and  prefixed  in  1807  the  name  of  Wentworth 
to  that  of  Fitzwilliam;  so  that  the  present  Wentworth- 
Fitzvvilliam  family  are  the  direct  descendants  of  Strafford 
through  his  daughter  Anne. 


f    THE  " 

EBSITl 

BROWNING'S 
LIFE   OF   STRAFFORD. 

1593—1641- 

Thomas  Wentworth  was  born  on  the  13th  of  April, 
1593,  in  Chancery-lane,  at  the  house  of  his  mother's 
father,  Mr.  Robert  Atkinson,  a  bencher  of  Lincoln's  Inn.^ 
He  was  the  eldest  of  twelve  children,  and  the  heir  of 
"  an  estate,  which  descended  to  him  through  a  long  train 
of  ancestors,  who  had  matched  with  many  heiresses  of 
the  best  families  in  the  North,  worth  at  that  time  6000/. 
a  year. "2  His  father,  sir  William  Wentworth,  continued 
to  hold  a  manor  which  his  ancestors  had  held  from  the 
time  of  the  Conquest  downwards.^ 

The  youth  of  Wentworth  was  passed,  and  his  mind 
received  its  earliest  and  strongest  impressions,  in  the 
midst  of  the  aristocratic  influences.  And  he  was  by  no 
means  taught  to  disregard  them.  He  must  have  con- 
sidered the  various  ramifications  of  the  family  pedigree 

1  Radcliffe's  "Essay  towards  the  Life  of  my  Lord  Strafforde," 
published  as  an  appendix  to  "The  Earl  of  Strafforde's  Letters 
AND  Dispatches,"  2  vols,  folio.  Dublin  edit.  1740.  vol.  ii.  p. 
429.     Biographia  Britannica,  vol.  vii.  p.  41 72. 

2  Knowler's  Dedication  to  the  Letters. 

^  An  account  of  the  Wentworths  will  be  found  in  Collins ;  and 
see  Thoresby's  Ducatus  Leodiensis. 

B 


2  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

with  a  very  early  pride  and  zeal,  to  have  been  so  well 
prepared,  on  his  sudden  elevation  to  the  peerage,  with 
the  formidable  list  of  progenitors  that  were  cited  in  his 
patent.  It  was  there  set  forth,  among  other  grand  and 
notable  things,  that  he  was  lineally  descended  from  John 
of  Gaunt,  and  from  the  ancient  barons  of  Newmark, 
Oversley,  and  so  forth ;  and  that  his  ancestors,  either  by 
father  or  mother,  had  matched  with  divers  houses  of 
honour ;  as  with  Maud  countess  of  Cambridge,  daughter 
to  the  lord  Clifford  of  Westmoreland;  with  Margaret, 
daughter  and  heir  to  the  lord  Philip  de  Spencer ;  the 
lords  D'Arcy  of  the  North ;  Latimer,  Talboys,  Ogle  ; 
Ferrers  earl  of  Digby;  Quincy  earl  of  Winchester; 
Beaumont  earl  of  Leicester ;  Grantmesnil  baron  of 
Hincley  and  lord  high  steward  of  England ;  Peveril  earl 
of  Nottingham  ;  Leofric  earl  of  Mercia ;  and  Margaret 
duchess  of  Somerset,  grandmother  of  Henry  VIL^  It 
was  from  the  high  conventional  ground  of  such  proud 
recollections,  that  Thomas  Wentworth  looked  forward  to 
the  future. 

Little  account  of  his  early  education  has  been  pre- 
served, but  he  afterwards  proved  that  no  accomplishment 
suited  to  rank  and  lofty  expectations  had  been  omitted, 
and  it  is  characteristic  of  the  encouragement  given  by  his 
father  to  his  aristocratic  tendencies,  that  the  college 
selected  for  the  completion  of  his  studies  should  have 
been  that  which  was  founded  by  the  illustrious  grand- 
mother of  Henry  VII.,  whom  he  claimed  as  one  of  his 
ancestors.  He  was  sent  to  St.  John's  college,  Cambridge. ^ 
Here  he  soon  gave  evidence  of  the  powers  of  a  fine 
intellect,  and  of  that  not  ungenerous  warmth  of  disposi- 

^  Collins'  Peerage  of  England,  vol.  ii.  pp.  20,  21. 
2  RadclifFe's  Essay. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  3 

tion  which  is  lavish  of  gratitude  and  favour  in  return  for 
personal  service.  He  met  with  a  tutor,  Mr.  Greenwood, 
whose  useful  attentions  to  him  at  this  time  were  secured 
for  the  future  by  a  prompt  appreciation  of  their  value  ;  he 
availed  himself  of  them  through  his  after  life,  and  never 
at  any  time  failed,  faithfully,  and  even  affectionately,  to 
remember  and  reward  them.^  I  may  add,  in  further 
proof  of  this  characteristic  quality,  that  we  find  him 
shortly  after  profiting  by  the  active  service  of  a  person 
named  Radcliffe,^  connected  with  his  family  by  some 
claims  of  clanship,  and  that,  from  this  time,  Radcliffe 
never  left  his  side.     He  had  been  found  useful. 

Wentworth  left  his  college  while  yet  very  young ;  he 
cannot  have  been  more  than  eighteen.  But  he  had 
received  benefits  from  his  residence  there,  and  he  did 
not  fail  to  exhibit  his  recollection  of  these  also,  when  the 
power  and  opportunity  arose. ^  Not  that  it  required,  in 
this  particular  case,  the  circumstance  of  service  rendered, 
to  elicit  Went  worth's  return.  The  memory  of  his  proudly 
recollected  ancestress  was  abundantly  sufficient  to  have 

^  I  shall  have  other  occasions  to  allude  to  this.  It  may  be  worth 
while  to  add,  that  Greenwood  was  himself  a  man  of  ancient  family, 
and  not  likely,  on  that  account,  to  prove  less  suitable  to  Wentworth. 
See  Biog.  Brit.  vol.  vii.  p.  4173.  note  C. 

2  Strafford  Papers,  vol,  i.  p.  9. 

3  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  125.  189.  ;  ii.  p.  390.  I  may 
allude  to  this  again.  On  his  promotion  to  the  earldom,  two  years 
before  his  death,  he  acknowledged,  in  warm  phrase,  the  congratula- 
tions of  the  provost  and  fellows  of  his  old  college  : — "  After  my  very 
hearty  commendations,  so  mindful  I  am  of  the  ancient  favours  I 
received  in  that  society  of  St.  John's,  whilst  I  was  a  student  there, 
and  so  sensible  of  your  present  civility  towards  me,  as  I  may  not 
upon  this  invitation  pass  by  either  of  them  unacknowledged.  And 
therefore  do  hereby  very  heartily  thank  you  for  renewing  to  me  the 
sense  of  the  one,  and  affording  me  the  favour  of  the  other.  And  in 
both  these  regards  shall  be  very  apprehensive  of  any  occasions, 
wherein  I  may  do  any  good  offices  either  towards  that  house  or 
yourselves,  the  provost  and  fellows  thereof." 


4  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

called  it  forth  ;  "  being,"  as  he  himself,  shortly  after  this, 
writes  to  one  of  his  country  neighbours,  "  I  must  confess, 
in  my  own  nature,  a  great  lover  and  conserver  of  here- 
ditary good  wills,  such  as  have  been  amongst  our  nearest 
friends."^  When  a  hereditary  good  will  happened  to  be 
associated  with  one  of  his  greatest  ancestral  glories,  it 
ran  little  chance  of  being  lessened  or  lost. 

The  next  circumstance  I  trace  in  the  scanty  memorials 
of  this  portion  of  his  history,  is  his  acquisition  of  the 
honour  of  knighthood.^  This  title  was  then  to  be  pur- 
chased at  a  reasonable  rate  of  money ;  doubtless  Went- 
worth  so  purchased  it ;  and  the  fact  may  be  taken,  along 
with  the  evidences  I  have  already  named,  in  further 
corroboration  of  the  development  of  the  aristocratic 
principle.  Though  still  extremely  young,  this  remarkable 
person  had  been  left  to  all  his  independence  of  mature 
manhood ;  was  treated  with  deference  by  his  father ;  and 
even  now,  having  not  yet  passed  his  eighteenth  year, 
aspired  to  the  hand  of  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
earl  of  Cumberland,  whom  he  married  before  the  close 
of  i6ii.^  If  it  has  seemed  strange  to  the  reader,  that  the 
immediate  successor  to  an  ancient  baronetcy  should  have 
sought  to  feed  his  love  of  rank  by  the  purchase  of  a 


^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  25. 

2  The  writer  in  the  Biog.  Brit.,  and  Mr.  Mac-Diarmid,  assign  a 
later  period  to  this,  but  without  authority.  Radcliffe  distinctly,  in 
his  Essay,  names  the  year  161 1  ;  and  there  is  extant  a  letter  of  sir 
Peter  Frecheville's  to  Wentworth's  father,  sir  William  Wentworth, 
dated  in  this  year,  which  commences  thus  : — *'  I  do  unfeignedly 
congratulate  the  honourable  fortunes  of  my  cousin,  your  eldest 
son  ;  " — in  reference,  as  must  be  supposed,  to  the  youth's  new  title. 
While  on  this  subject  I  may  add,  that  Mr.  Mac-Diarmid  has  also 
fallen  into  error  in  attributing  certain  praises  (vol.  i.  p.  i.  of  the 
Strafford  Papers)  to  Thomas  Wentworth  : — they  distinctly  relate  to 
his  brother  William,  then  educating  for  the  bar. 

3  Radcliffe's  Essay. 


BROWNING'S    LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  5 

paltry  knighthood,  here  is  the  probable  reason  that  in- 
fluenced him.  A  title  of  any  sort  matched  him  more 
fittingly  with  a  lady  of  title.  Immediately  after  his 
marriage,  in  November,  161 1,  he  went  into  France.  Mr. 
Greenwood,  his  former  tutor,  joined  him  there,  and 
remained  with  him.^ 

Strange  events  at  that  moment  shook  the  kingdom  of 
France.  Henry  IV.  assassinated,  the  parliament  invaded 
and  beset,  Marie  de'  Medicis  regent,  Sully  disgraced, 
Concini  in  favour !  These  things  sunk  deep  into  the 
mind  of  Wentworth.  "  II  put  faire  des  lors,"  exclaims 
the  comte  de  Lally-Tolendal,  "de  profondes  reflexions 
sur  les  horreurs  du  fanatisme,  sur  les  abus  du  pouvoir, 
sur  le  malheur  d'un  pays  depourvii  de  ces  loix  fix6s,  qui, 
dans  I'impossibilite  d'anneantir  les  passions  humaines, 
les  balancent  du  moins  I'une  par  I'autre,  et  les  forcent 
par  leur  propre  interet  a  servir,  meme  en  depit  d'elles, 
rinteret  general." ^  Without  adopting  M.  de  Lally- 
Tolendal's  exact  construction,  it  is  certain  that  the  events 
I  have  named,  occurring  as  it  were  in  the  immediate  pre- 
sence of  Wentworth,^  were  not  calculated  to  weaken  his 


'  Radcliffe's  Essay. 

^  This  is  the  only  remark  with  any  pretension  to  originality  I  have 
been  able  to  find  through  the  course  of  a  long  ^'  Essai  sur  la  Vie  de 
T.  Wentworth,  Comte  de  Strafford,"  which  the  comte  de  Lally- 
Tolendal  (penetrated  with  profound  disgust  at  the  patriotic  party  in 
England,  and  with  the  striking  resemblance  between  Strafford's  fate 
and  that  of  his  own  unfortunate  father)  undertook  to  write  for  the 
instruction  of  his  countrymen.  He  perpetrated  a  very  ridiculous 
tragedy  on  the  same  subject 

3  He  does  not  appear  to  have  visited  France  only,  at  this  period, 
as  has  been  supposed.  He  went  on  to  Venice,  where  he  formed  a 
friendship  with  sir  Henry  Wotton.  We  find  him  afterwards,  in  his 
correspondence,  contrasting  to  his  friend  the  ambassador,  "these 
cold  and  sluggish  climates,"  with  "the  more  sublimated  air  of 
Italy-." — Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  5.  Wotton  continued  his  ardent  friend 
and  admirer. 


6  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

impressions  in  favour  of  strict  establishment,  and  in  scorn 
of  popular  regards.  The  image  of  a  Ravillac,  indeed, 
haunted  his  after  Hfe  !  ^ 

Meanwhile  events,  in  themselves  not  so  startling  and 
painful  as  these,  but  not  the  less  ominous  of  a  stormy 
future,  were  occurring  in  England.  In  the  biography  of 
Eliot  I  confined  myself  strictly  to  an  explanation  of  the 
circumstances  of  general  history  under  which  he  entered 
his  first  parliament :  I  must  now  retrace  my  steps. 

James  I.  had  many  reasons  to  be  weary  of  his  own 
kingdom,  when  the  death  of  Elizabeth  seated  him  on  the 
English  throne.  He  came  to  this  country  in  an  ecstasy 
of  infinite  relief.  Visions  of  levelling  clergy  and  factious 
nobles  had  vanished  from  his  aching  sight.  In  hopeful 
conceit  he  turned  to  his  Scotch  followers,  and  remarked, 
they  had  at  last  arrived  in  the  land  of  promise. 

His  first  interviews  with  his  English  counsellors  were 
no  less  satisfactory.  "  Do  I  mak  the  judges  ?  do  I  mak 
the  bishops  ? "  he  exclaimed,  as  they  pointed  out  to  his 
delighted  attention  the  powers  of  his  new  dominion — 
*'then,  Godis  wauns  !  I  mak  what  Hkes  me  law  and 
Gospel."  There  is  enough  of  shrewdness  in  this  remark 
to  express  James's  character  in  that  respect.  He  was 
not  an  absolute  fool,  and  little  more  can  be  said  of  him. 
It  is  a  pity  he  was  not,  since  he  was  deficient  in  much 
wisdom.  It  is  the  little  redeeming  leaven  which  proves 
troublesome  and  mischievous ;  the  very  wise  or  the  very 
foohsh  do  little  harm.  His  "  learning,"  such  as  it  was — 
though  not  open  to  the  serious  censure  which  is  provoked 
by  his  preposterous  vanity  in  the  matter  of  "  kingcraft," 
his  disgraceful  love  of  personal  ease,  and  his  indecent 
and  shameless  fondness  for  personal  favourites — never 
^  His  letters  afford  very  frequent  evidence  of  this. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  7 

furnished  him  with  one  useful  thought,  or  a  suggestion  of 
practical  benefit.^  He  wrote  mystical  definitions  of  the 
prerogative,  and  poHte  ''Counterblasts  to  Tobacco;" 
issued  forth  damnation  to  the  deniers  of  witchcraft  2,  and 
poured  out  the  wraths  of  the  Apocalypse  upon  popery ; 
but  whenever  an  obvious  or  judicious  truth  seemed  likely 
to  fall  in  his  way,  his  pen  infallibly  waddled  off  from  it. 
He  expounded  the  Latin  of  the  fathers  at  Hampton 
Court ^,  but  avoided  the  very  plain  and  intelligible  Latin 
of  Fortescue. 


^  Bacon's  opinion  has  been  urged  against  this,  as  evidence  of 
genuine  praise  or  of  the  basest  sycophancy.  He  dedicated  his 
greatest  work,  the  "Advancement  of  Learning,"  to  James.  It  is 
worth  while,  however,  to  quote  the  exact  words  of  this  dedication. 
They  are  very  curious.  If  they  were  meant  seriously,  never  was  so 
much  flattery  ingeniously  mixed  up  with  so  much  truth.  They 
savour  much  more  of  irony.  "  I  am  well  assured,"  writes  Bacon, 
**  that  this  which  I  shall  say  is  no  amplification  at  all,  but  a  positive 
and  measured  truth ;  which  is,  that  there  hath  not  been,  since 
Christ's  time,  any  king  or  temporal  monarch,  which  hath  been  so 
learned  in  all  hterature  and  erudition,  divine  and  human.  For  let 
a  man  seriously  and  diligently  revolve  and  peruse  the  succession  of 
the  emperors  of  Rome,  of  which  Caesar  the  dictator,  who  lived  some 
years  before  Christ,  and  Marcus  Antoninus,  were  the  best  learned  ; 
and  so  descend  to  the  emperors  of  Grsecia,  or  of  the  West,  and  then 
to  the  lines  of  France,  Spain,  England,  Scotland,  and  the  rest ;  and 
he  shall  find  his  judgment  is  truly  made.  For  it  seemeth  much  in  a 
king,  ij  by  the  compendious  extractions  of  oth:r  meti's  wits  and  labour, 
he  can  take  hold  of  any  superficial  ornaments  and  shows  of  learning, 
or  if  he  countejiance  and  pi efer  learning  and  learned  ?nen :  but  to 
drink  indeed  of  the  true  fountain  of  learning,  nay,  to  have  such  a 
fountain  of  learning  in  himself,  in  a  king,  and  in  a  king  borji,  is 
almost  a  miracle."  This  makes  out  too  formidable  an  exception  to 
be  quite  complimentary,  and  perhaps  James's  irreverent  joke  about 
the  book  itself  was  not  unconnected  with  its  dedication.  "It  is  like 
the  peace  of  God,"  he  said,  'Mt  passeth  all  understanding!"  It 
was  a  fair  retort  upon  the  sycophancy  of  James's  more  profligate 
flatterers,  when  Henry  IV.  of  France  admitted  that  he  might  be 
**  Solomon — the  son  of  David" 

"^  See  the  preface  of  his  "  Daemonologie." 

^  An  extraordinary  account  of  the  indecent  conduct  of  James  at 
this  conference  is  given  by  Harrington,  an  eye-witness  (Nugse 
Antiquse,  vol.  i.  p.  181.)  and  is  worth  referring  to.    Barlow,  a  pariial 


8  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Not  SO  the  great  men,  his  opponents,  who  were  now 
preparing  for  a  constitutional  struggle,  of  which  Europe 
had  as  yet  given  no  example.  At  the  close  of  Elizabeth's 
reign  they  had  risen  to  a  formidable  party,  they  had 
wrung  concessions  even  from  her  splendid  despotism,  and 
won  for  themselves  the  courteous  title  of  "mutineers."^ 
They  soon  found  that  they  had  little  to  fear  from  her 
successor.    He  had  no  personal  claims  on  their  respect^, 

observer  of  the  king  and  bishops,  gives  a  long  account  of  the  discus- 
sion in  his  Phcenix  Britannicus,  p.  140.  et  seq.  edit.  1707.  See  also 
Winw^ood's  Memorials,  p.  13.  James  and  his  eighteen  abject  bishops 
boasted  that  they  had  thoroughly  beaten  their  four  puritan  adver- 
saries ;  and  beat  them,  it  must  be  confessed,  they  did,  with  the 
rudest  and  most  atrocious  insults  ;  certainly  not  with  learning.  In 
the  latter  respect,  Dr.  Reynolds,  the  puritan  leader,  had  the  advan- 
tage of  perhaps  any  other  man  in  England.  See  Hallam's  Const. 
Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  405. 

1  Sloane  MSS.  4166.  Letter  of  Sir  E.  Hoby  to  Sir  T.  Edmonds, 
dated  Feb.  12,  1605.  See  also  Hallam's  Constitutional  Hist.  vol. 
i.  p.  401.  A  curious  tract  in  the  Sloane  MSS.  827.  confirms  the 
loss  of  Elizabeth's  popularity,  and  states  its  cause,  in  a  short  history 
of  the  queen's  death,  and  the  new  king's  accession.  See,  too,  the 
proceedings  in  the  case  of  Peter  Wentworth  (a  Cornish  Wentworth), 
Pari.  Hist.  vol.  iv.  p.  i86.  et  seq.  The  name  of  Wentworth  fills  up 
more  than  one  illustrious  era  of  the  English  history. 

2  The  news  of  the  progress  of  his  journey  from  Scotland  had 
travelled  before  him!  "  By  the  time  he  reached  London,"  says 
Carte,  a  friend  of  the  Stuarts,  "  the  admiration  of  the  intelligent 
world  was  turned  into  contempt."  The  reader  will  find  good  reason 
for  this  in  Harrington's  Nugse  Antiquse,  vol.  i.  p.  180.  ;  Wilson,  in 
Kennet,  vol.  ii,  p.  667.  ;  Neal,  p.  408,  quarto  edit.  ;  Fuller,  part 
ii.  p.  22.  ;  Hallam,  vol.  i.  pp.  402,  403.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  this 
contempt  should  have  been  diminished  by  his  personal  aspect,  which 
Weldon  (quoting  Balfour)  has  described,  and  Saunderson  (in  his 
Aulicus  Coquinariae — an  answer  to  Weldon's  book)  has  not  dared  to 
contradict.  "He  was  of  a  middle  stature,"  says  Balfour,  "more 
corpulent  throghe  his  clothes  then  in  his  body,  zet  fatt  enouch  ;  his 
clothes  euer  being  made  large  and  easie,  the  doubletts  quilted  for 
steletto  proofe  ;  his  breeches  in  grate  pleits  and  full  stuffed  :  he  was 
naturally  of  a  timorous  dispositione,  which  was  the  gratest  reasone 
of  his  quilted  doubletts  :  his  eye  large,  euer  roulling  after  aney 
stranger  cam  in  his  presence  ;  insomuch  as  maney  for  shame  have 
left  the  roome,  as  being  out  of  countenance  ;  his  beard  was  werey 
thin  ;  his  toung  too  large  for  his  mouthe,  vich  euer  made  him  speake 


BROWNINCS   LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  9 

no  dignity  to  fence  in  royalty.  They  buckled  on  the 
armour  of  their  privileges,  and  awaited  his  ludicrous 
attacks  without  respect  and  without  fear.^ 

James  soon  commenced  them,  and  with  a  hand  doubly 
defenceless.  He  had  impoverished  his  crown,  by  con- 
ferring its  estates  on  his  needy  followers;  he  had  de- 
prived it  of  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  wealthier 
barons,  in  disgusting  them  with  his  indiscriminate  peerage 
creations. 2  From  this  feeble  hand,  and  a  head  stuffed 
with  notions  of  his  royal  "  divinity,"  he  issued  the  first 
of  his  proclamations  for  the  assembling  of  parliament. 
It  contained  a  deadly  attack  on  the  privileges  of  the 
house  of  commons,  in  an  attempt  to  regulate  the  parlia- 
mentary elections.  This  was  resented,  and  defeated,  and 
so  the  fight  began. 3 

full  in  the  mouthe,  and  made  him  drinke  werey  uncomelie,  as  if 
eatting  his  drinke,  wich  cam  out  into  tlie  cupe  in  cache  syde  of  his 
mouthe  ;  his  skin  vas  as  softe  as  tafta  sarsnet :  wich  felt  so  becausse 
he  neuer  washt  his  hands,  onUe  rubbed  his  fingers'  ends  sliglitly  vith 
the  vett  end  of  a  napkin.  His  legs  wer  verey  weake  ;  having  had, 
as  was  thought,  some  foule  play  in  his  youthe  ;  or  rather,  befor  he 
was  borne  ;  that  he  was  not  able  to  stand  at  seuin  zeires  of  age  ; 
that  weaknes  made  him  euer  leaning  on  other  men's  shoulders." — 
"  His  walk,"  subjoins  Wilson,  "was  ever  circular."  The  satirical 
Francis  Osborne  has  certainly  completed  this  picture  : — "  I  shall 
leave  him  dressed  for  posterity,"  says  that  writer,  "  in  the  color  I 
saw  him  in,  the  next  progress  after  his  inauguration  ;  which  was  as 
green  as  the  grass  he  trod  on  ;  with  a  feather  in  his  cap,  and  a  horn, 
instead  of  a  sword,  by  his  side.  How  suitable  to  his  age,  calling, 
or  person,  I  leave  others  to  judge  from  his  pictures." — Trad.  Mevi. 
c.  xvii. 

^  An  ominous  hint  of  relative  advantage  may  be  quoted  from  the 
Journals,  vol.  i.  p,  156.  *'  That  a  people  may  be  without  a  king,  a 
king  cannot  be  without  a  people." 

^  See  Bolingbroke  on  the  History  of  England,  pp.  237,  238. 
Harris's  Life  of  James,  pp.  69.  71.  "A  pasquil,"  says  Wilson, 
**  was  pasted  up  at  St.  Paul's,  wherein  was  pretended  an  art  to  help 
weak  memories  to  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  names  of  the 
nobility." — p.  7. 

3  See  Commons'  Journals,  p.  147.  et  scq.  166.  ;  Carte,  vol.  iii. 
P-   730- ;   Winwood's   Memorials,   vol.    ii.    p.    18.  ;    Bolingbroke's 


TO  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

The  popular  party  proclaimed  their  intentions  at  once, 
with  boldness,  and  in  explicit  language.  They  warned 
the  king  of  his  imprudence ;  they  spoke  of  the  dissolute 
and  abandoned  character  of  his  court  expenses.  They 
did  not  refuse  to  assist  his  wants,  but  they  maintained 
that  every  offer  of  money  on  their  part  should  be  met 
with  corresponding  offers  of  concession  on  the  part  of 
the  crown.  They  brought  forward  a  catalogue  of  griev- 
ances in  the  practice  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  in  the 
administration  of  civil  justice,  and  in  the  conduct  of  the 
various  departments  of  the  government.  For  these  they 
demanded  redress.^  Artifice  and  intrigue  were  the  first 
answers  they  received,  and  a  prorogation  the  last. 

James  had  now  sufficient  warning,  but,  nevertheless, 
plunged  blusteringly  forward.  With  no  clear  hereditary 
right  to  the  crown  2,  he  flouted  his  only  safe  pretension — 
the  consent  and  authority  of  the  people.  With  no  per- 
sonal qualities  to  command  respect,  he  proclaimed  him- 
self a  *'  lieutenant  and  vicegerent  of  God,"  and,  as  such. 


Remarks,  p.  250.  Hume  observes  that  "  the  facility  with  which  he 
departed  from  this  pretension  is  a  proof  that  his  meaning  was  inno- 
cent." (vol.  V,  p.  12.)  Fear,  his  saving  characteristic,  is  tlie  more 
obvious  solution. 

^  They  tried  to  get  the  upper  house  to  join  them  in  these  com- 
plaints, but  vainly.  Their  lordships  refused.  See  Somers  Tracts, 
vol,  ii.  p.  14.  ;  Commons'  Journals,  pp.  199.  235.  238.  For  the 
principal  grievances,  see  Journals,  pp.  190.  215.  251.  &c.  ;  Hallam's 
Court  Hist.  vol.  i.  pp.  412.  415.  ;  and  Lingard's  History,  vol.  vi. 
pp.  23.  27.  88—93.  quarto  edit. 

2  Mr.  Hallam  has  admirably  and  fully  discussed  this  point,  Const. 
Hist.  pp.  392 — 400.  I  have  no  doubt  the  king  was  able  to  feel  his 
want  of  clear  pretensions  acutely  ;  but  his  blundering  shrewdness 
taught  him  no  better  mode  of  concealing  it,  than  by  magnifying  the 
inherent  rights  of  primogenitary  succession,  as  something  indefeasible 
by  the  legislature.  We  find  him  frequently,  with  much  testiness, 
reminding  the  commons — "you  all  know,  I  came  from  the  loins  of 
your  ancient  kings  " — a  sure  proof  that  he  feared  they  did  not  know 
it.     See  Pari.  Hist.  vol.  v.  p.  192. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  n 

adorned  and  furnished  with  "  sparkles  of  divinity."  In 
total  ignorance  of  the  nature  and  powers  of  government, 
nothing  could  shake  his  vain  conceit  of  the  awe  to  be 
inspired  by  his  regal  wisdom.  The  commons,  however, 
left  no  point  of  their  claims  unasserted  or  uncertain  ;  they 
reserved  no  "  arcana  imperii,"  after  the  king's  fashion. 
They  drew  up  in  committee  a  "  Satisfaction  "  of  their 
proceedings,  for  the  perusal  of  James,  who  makes  an 
evident  allusion  to  it  in  a  letter  of  the  time.^  It  is  vain 
to  say,  after  reading  such  documents  as  this,  that  liberty, 
a  discrimination  of  the  powers  and  objects  of  govern- 
ment, was  then  only  struggling  to  the  light,  or  had 
achieved  no  distinct  form  and  pretension.  It  was  already 
deep  in  the  hearts  and  in  the  understandings  of  men. 
**  What  cause,"  they  eloquently  said,  "  we  your  poor 
commons  have,  to  watch  over  their  privileges,  is  evident 
in  itself  to  all  men.  The  prerogatives  of  princes  may 
easily,  and  do  daily,  grow.  The  privileges  of  the  subject 
are,  for  the  most  part,  at  an  everlasting  stand.  They  may 
be,  by  good  providence  and  care,  preserved  ;  but  being 
once  lost,  are  not  recovered  but  with  much  disquiet." 

^  This  remarkable  paper  will  be  found  at  length  in  Petyt's  Jus 
Parliament,  ch.  x.  p.  227.  ;  and  is  extracted  into  Mr.  Hatsell's  first 
vol.  of  Precedents,  Appendix.  No.  i.  Hatsell  states,  that  it  was 
not  entered  on  the  Journals.  This  is  partly  a  mistake,  for  at  p. 
243.  the  first  paragraph  wiil  be  found.  Rapin  alludes  to  it  ;  and 
Mr.  Hallam  has  made  very  spirited  use  of  it  (vol.  i.  p.  418.),  though 
he  seems  to  labour  under  misapprehension  in  stating  that  Hume  was 
ignorant  of  its  existence.  Hume,  on  the  contrary,  makes  special 
allusion  to  it  (vol.  v.  p.  15.)  ;  quotes  a  passage  from  it ;  speaks  of  it 
as  drawn  up  "  with  great  force  of  reasoning,  and  spirit  of  liberty  ;  " 
attributes  it  to  Bacon  and  Sandys  ;  and  inclines  to  think  that  it  had 
not  been  presented  to  the  monarch  by  the  house.  Tlie  last  supposi- 
tion is  certainly  incorrect ;  and  Mr.  Hallam  produces  a  letter  which 
appears  to  indicate  the  feelings  with  which  the  king  regarded  it  (vol. 
i.  p.  419.)-  Aliout  this  time,  it  may  be  added,  mention  is  made  in 
the  Journals,  that  fresh  seats  were  required  for  the  extraordinary 
attendance  of  members. — p.  141. 


12  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD, 

Another  session  succeeded,  and  the  same  scenes  were 
again  enacted,  with  the  same  results.  In  vain  were 
monopolies  cried  down,  and  the  merchants  lifted  their 
voices  unavailingly  against  the  inglorious  peace  with  Spain. 
After  this  prorogation,  James's  obstinacy  held  out  for 
upwards  of  two  years,  when  want  of  money  overcame  it. 

The  session  of  1610  was  a  most  distinguished  one,  and 
called  the  unjust  prerogative  to  a  rigorous  reckoning. 
James  had  most  illegally,  in  the  face  of  two  great  charters, 
and  twelve  other  parliamentary  enactments,  imposed 
certain  duties  on  imports  and  exports.  Bates,  a  Turkey 
merchant,  refused  payment  of  one  on  currants,  and 
carried  his  case  into  the  exchequer.^  The  judges  there 
refused  him  justice,  in  terms  more  disgraceful  and  sub- 
versive of  liberty,  than  even  the  iniquitous  decision. 
Against  this,  and  in  no  measured  terms,  the  commons 
now  protested.  Lawyers,  more  learned  than  the  judges, 
exposed,  in  masterly  reasoning,  the  ignorance  and  cor- 
ruption of  barons  Fleming  and  Clark.  Sir  Francis 
Bacon  appealed  with  all  his  eloquence  to  the  reverence 
of  past  ages,  and  the  possession  of  the  present;  but 
Hakewill  proved'^,  in  an  argument  of  memorable  clear- 

^  A  very  learned  preface  to  the  report  of  the  case  of  Bates  in  the 
State  Trials,  comprising  the  entire  argument  on  the  question,  has 
been  written  by  Mr.  Hargrave.  Coke,  in  his  2d  Inst.  p.  57.,  proves 
the  illegality  of  the  decision;  though,  in  his  Reports  (p.  12.),  he 
had  inclined  to  its  favour,  on  other  grounds  than  those  stated  by  the 
judges.  See  also  Birch's  Negotiations,  and  an  eloquent  and  very 
learned  note  on  the  subject  of  impositions,  in  Mr.  Amos's  Fortescue, 
pp.  28 — 31.  142,  143.  I  cannot  leave  the  latter  work  without 
adding,  that  various  and  extensive  as  is  the  learning  displayed  in  it, 
it  is  for  those  only  to  appreciate  Mr.  Amos's  profound  acquaintance 
with  constitutional  law  and  history,  who,  like  myself,  have  to 
acknowledge,  with  the  deepest  gratitude,  information  personally 
communicated. 

^  See  his  speech,  State  Trials,  vol.  ii.  p.  407.  Mr.  Hallam's 
statement  of  the  discussion  is  interesting,  vol.  i.  p.  433 — 438. 


BROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  13 

ness  and  vast  knowledge,  that  the  only  instances  adduced 
were  on  forbidden  articles,  and  therefore  false  as  prece- 
dents ;  and  Bacon  appealed  in  vain.  Still  more  vain  was 
the  rage  of  the  monarch,  who  hastened  to  the  house  to 
lay  his  arrogant  commands  upon  them.  He  told  them, 
after  a  comparison  savouring  of  blasphemy,  that  it  "was 
seditious  in  subjects  to  dispute  what  a  king  may  do  in 
the  height  of  his  power."  ^  They  answered  in  a  remon- 
strance of  great  strength  and  spirit,  and  of  much  learning.^ 
After  producing  a  host  of  precedents,  they  passed  a  bill 
against  impositions;  but,  to  use  Hume's  phrase,  "the 
house  of  lords,  as  is  usual,  defended  the  barriers  of  the 
throne,"  and  threw  out  the  bill.^ 

I  may  allude  a  little  further  to  the  proceedings  of  this 
distinguished  session,  since  they  illustrate  forcibly  the 
exact  relative  positions  of  the  crown  and  parliament  at 
the  period  of  Wentworth's  return. 

Unwearied  in  exertion,  the  house  of  commons  now 
fastened  on  a  work  that  had  been  published  by  Dr. 
Cowell,  one  of  the  party  of  civilians  encouraged  against 
the  common  lawyers,  and  which  contained  most  mon- 
strous doctrines  on  the  subject  of  kingly  power.*     They 

1  It  is  worth  referring  to  this  speech,  as  given  in  King  James's 
Works,  pp.  529.  531.  The  discontent  it  provoked  will  be  found  by 
referring  to  Winwood's  Memorials,  vol.  iii.  p.  175.  ;  Commons' 
Journals,  p.  430.  ;  and  Miss  Aikin's  James,  vol.  i.  p.  350. 

2  It  will  be  found  at  length  at  Somers'  Tracts,  vol.  ii.  p.  159. 

^  Hume,  referring  to  this  measure,  observes  : — "  A  spirit  of  liberty 
had  now  taken  possession  of  the  house.  The  leading  members, 
being  men  of  independent  genius  and  large  views,  began  to  regulate 
their  opinions  more  by  the  future  consequences  which  they  foresaw, 
than  by  former  precedents  which  were  laid  before  them  ;  and  they 
less  aspired  at  maintaining  the  ancient  constitution,  than  at  establish- 
ing a  new  one,  and  a  freer,  and  a  better."  (vol.  v.  p.  34.)  However 
true  this  may  be  in  reference  to  future  proceedings,  it  is  certainly 
incorrect  as  applied  to  the  present. 

*  See  Roger  Coke's  Detection,  vol.  i.  p.  50.  edit.  1694.     These 


14  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

compelled  James  to  suppress  the  book.     The  wily  Cecil 
had  striven  to  effect  a  compromise  with  them,  by  the  pro- 
position of  a  large  yearly  revenue  to  the  crown,  in  return 
for  which  he  promised  that  the  liberality  of  the  sovereign 
in  the  matter  of  grievances  should  be  commensurate. 
He  had   entreated,   however,  without  success,  that  the 
subsidies   should    have    priority :    the    commons    were 
resolute  in  enforcing  the  condition  before  yielding  the 
grant.     The  fate  of  their  impositions'  bill  had  instructed 
them.     Cecil  now  pressed  again  for  the  subsidies ;  they 
persisted    in   the   further   entertainment   of    grievances. 
They  complained  of  the  ecclesiastical  high  commission 
court,  and  its  disregard  of  the  common  law;  they  pro- 
tested against  the  recent  system  of  substituting  proclam- 
ations for  laws;  they  sought  redress  for  the  delays  of 
the  courts  in  granting  writs  of  prohibition  and  habeas 
corpus;    they  questioned   the   right   of  the   counc.l    of 
Wales  to  exclude  from  the  privileges  of  the  common  law 
four  ancient  English  counties ;  they  remonstrated  against 
patents  of  monopolies,  and  a  late  most  unjust  tax  upon 
victuallers ;  but,  above  all,  they  strove  to  exonerate  the 
country  from  the  feudal  burthens.^    They  did  not  dispute 
that  these  in   right  belonged  to  the   crown  ;    but  they 
negotiated  for  their  abolition  ;  for  they  never  then  insisted 
on  a  right,  except  with  proofs  and  precedents  in  their 
hands  for  claiming  it  as  such.     In  that  particular  stage  of 
the  contest,  the  necessity  and   justice  of  such   caution 
is   apparent,  and  forms   an  important    feature  of  their 
struggles. 


passages  have  since  been  suppressed,  and  it  is  now  considered  a 
useful  book.     See  Hume's  admirable  note,  vol.  v.  p.  37. 

^  See  the  Pari.  Hist.  vol.  v.  pp.  225 — 245.     Also,  the  Commons* 
Journals  for  1610.     Winwood,  vol.  iii.  p.  119. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  15 

The  negotiation  now  commenced.  James  did  not  care 
to  abolish  purveyance  1,  which  was  sought  for;  but  with 
that  was  coupled  a  demand  for  the  exchange  of  every 
other  kind  of  tenure  into  that  of  free  and  common 
socage.2  "  What !  "  said  James,  "  reduce  all  my  sub- 
jects, noble  and  base,  rich  and  poor,  to  hold  their  lands 
in  the  same  ignoble  manner  ?  "  The  indignant  "  father 
of  his  people  "  would  not  listen  to  it ;  and,  after  some 
delay,  a  compromise  was  struck.  The  tenure  by  knight 
service  was  retained;  but  its  most  lucrative  and  oppressive 
incidents,  such  as  relief,  premier  seisin,  and  wardship, 
were  surrendered,  along  with  purveyance.  Still  the 
commons  delayed ;  for  Cecil's  demands  were  exorbitant. 
They  resolved  to  pause  some  short  time  longer,  that  they 
might  ascertain  the  best  mode  of  levymg  so  large  a  sum 
with  the  least  distress  to  the  nation.  The  session  had 
already  been  protracted  far  into  summer ;  a  subsidy  was 
granted  for  immediate  wants;  and  a  prorogation  took 
place. 

The  loss  of  the  Journals  of  the  ensuing  session  renders 
it  difficult  to  follow  their  proceedings.  It  is  certain, 
however,  from  other  sources,  that  the  events  of  the 
interim  had  resolved  the  leaders  of  the  house  on  aban- 
doning the  terms  proposed.  They  saw  no  signs  of 
greater  justice  at  the  outports,  or  in  the  proclamations, 
or  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  The  most  important  of 
their  petitions  on  particular  grievances  had  been  refused, 
and  now,  when  they  sent  one  up  to  the  throne  for  the 
allowing  prisoners  on  a  capital  charge  to  bring  witnesses 
in  their  own  defence,  the  king  protested  to  them,  that  in 

^  An  admirable  note  on   purveyance  will   be  found  in   Amos's 
Fortescue,  pp.  134,  135. 

2  Pari.  Hist.  vol.  v.  p.  229,  et  seq. 


1 6  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

his  conscience  he  could  not  grant  such  an  indulgence. 
''It  would  encourage  and  multiply  forgery,"  he  said: 
"  men  were  already  accustomed  to  forswear  themselves, 
even  in  civil  actions ;  what  less  could  be  expected  when 
the  life  of  a  friend  was  at  stake  ?  "  ^  Such  was  the  ex- 
quisite philosophy  of  James.  A  coolness  ensued;  threats 
followed ;  a  prorogation  was  again  the  intermediate 
argument,  with  a  dissolution  within  nine  weeks  as  the 
final  one.  Those  nine  weeks  were  employed  in  vain  in 
the  purpose  of  weakening  the  popular  party ;  and,  on  the 
day  threatened,  seven  years  from  their  first  assembling, 
the  dissolution  took  place.^ 

The  interval  which  ensued  was  one  of  profusion, 
debauchery,  and  riot  in  the  court ^,  and  of  attempted 
oppression  and  wrong  against  the  people.  Fortunately, 
the  spirit  of  liberty  had  strengthened  to  resistance.  "  The 
privy  seals  are  going  forth,"  says  a  contemporary  writer*, 
"but  from  a  trembling  hand,  lest  that  sacred  seal  should 
be  refused  by  the  desperate  hardness  of  the  prejudiced 
people."  It  was  refused;  and  the  shameful  expedient 
was  abundantly  resorted  to  by  the  court,  of  selling  the 
honours  of  the  peerage,  and  of  creating  a  number  of 
hereditary   knights,    who    should   pay   tribute   for   their 

^  Commons'  Journals,  p.  451.  Lords'  Journals,  p.  658.  Win- 
wood,  vol.  iii.  p.  193, 

^  A  curious  letter  of  the  king,  illustrative  of  the  angry  feelings  that 
prevailed  at  the  dissolution,  exists  in  Marden's  State  Papers,  p.  813. 
See  Hallam,  vol.  i.  p.  451. 

^  Observe  the  account  in  Fulke  lord  Brooke's  Five  Years  of  King 
James ;  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  Memoirs ;  Weldon,  p.  166.  ;  Coke's 
Detection,  vol.  i.  pp.  42 — 49.  The  court  presented,  at  this  moment, 
a  disgusting  scene  of  profligacy.  It  requires  a  strong  stomach  even 
to  get  through  a  perusal  of  the  details.  Ladies  ren:!ered  themselves 
especially  notable,  not  merely  for  laxity  of  virtue,  but  for  the 
grossest  drunkenness.     See  Nugae  Antiquse,  vol.  i.  p.  348. 

*  In  Winwood's  Memorials,  vol.  iii. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  17 

dignity.^  All  would  not  serve,  however;  and  Bacon, 
reckoning  somewhat  unduly  on  his  own  skilP,  prevailed 
upon  the  king  to  summon  another  parliament. 

At  this  eventful  moment  Wentworth  came  back  to 
England,  and  was  immediately  returned  knight  of  the 
shire  for  Yorkshire.^  It  is  now  my  duty  to  follow  him 
through  the  commencing  passages  of  his  public  life,  and 
I  hope  to  do  this  faithfully.  I  have  felt  very  strongly 
that  the  truth  lies  (as  it  generally  does  in  such  cases) 
somewhere  between  the  extreme  statements  that  have 
been  urged  on  either  side,  by  the  friends  and  the  foes  of 
Wentworth. 

One  of  his  latest  biographers^  who  brought  to  his  task 
a  very  amiable  feeling  and  desire — which  wasted  itself  at 
last,  however,  in  an  excess  of  sweetness  and  candour — 
sets  out  with  a  just  remark.  ^'  The  factions  which 
agitated  his  contemporaries,"  Mr.  Mac-Diarmid  observes, 
"  far  from  ceasing  with  the  existing  generation,  divided 

^  An  account  of  this  proceeding  will  be  found  in  Lingard's  History, 
vol.  vi.  quarto  edit,  from  Somers'  Tracts.  See  also  Hallam,  vol.  i. 
p.  461.  ;  Aikin,  vol.  i.  p.  389.  The  project  appears  to  have  been 
the  suggestion  of  Salisbury.  See  Baker's  Chronicle,  p.  416.  edit. 
1679.  ;  Guthrie,  vol.  iii.  p.  704.  ;  and  Macaulay's  History,  vol.  i. 

p.  75- 

2  MS.  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Hallam,  Const.  Hist.  vol.  i.  pp. 
461,  462. 

'  The  writer  in  the  Biographia  Britannica,  and  Mr.  Mac-Diarmid, 
reject  sir  George  RadclifFe's  dates  without  the  slightest  scruple,  but 
without  the  smallest  excuse.  They  are  all  of  them  extremely  ac- 
curate, and  it  is  quite  certain  that  Wentworth  sat  in  the  parliament 
of  16 14.  The  writers  in  the  Biog.  Brit,  plead  in  apology  that 
Radcliffe's  own  statement — "my  memory  is  (of  late  especially)  very 
bad  and  decayed  " — quite  warrants  their  freedom  with  his  dates  ; 
but  they  seem  to  have  overlooked  the  fact,  that  Radcliffe  distinctly 
restricts  the  decay  of  his  memory  to  facts  he  has  altogether  forgotten. 
'*  Seeing  my  unfaithful  memory,"  he  subsequently  says,  "hath  lost 
part  of  the  occurrences  which  concerned  my  lord,  I  am  loth  to  let 
slip  that,  7vhich yet  remains.'''' 

*  Mr.  Mac-Diarmid,  Lives  of  British  Statesmen,  2  vols. 

C 


1 8  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

posterity  into  his  immoderate  censurers,  or  unqualified 
admirers ;  and  writers,  whether  hostile  or  friendly,  have 
confounded  his  merits  and  defects  with  those  of  the 
transactions  in  which  he  was  engaged.  Even  in  the 
present  day,  an  undisguised  exposure  of  his  virtues  and 
vices  might  be  misconstrued  by  many  into  a  prejudiced 
panegyric,  or  an  invidious  censure  of  man,  as  well  as  of 
the  cause."  Now,  from  this  I  shall  certainly,  in  some 
measure,  secure  myself  by  the  course  I  propose  to  adopt. 
The  collection  of  documents  known  by  the  title  of  the 
"  Strafford  Papers,"  seems  to  me  to  contain  within  itself 
every  material  necessary  to  the  illustration  of  the  public 
and  private  character  of  this  statesman,  on  an  authority 
which  few  will  be  disposed  to  contest,  for  the  record  is 
his  own.  The  general  historical  statement  I  have  already 
given,  was  necessary  to  bring  Wentworth  more  intelli- 
gibly upon  the  political  scene ;  but  hereafter  I  mean  to 
restrict  myself,  almost  entirely,  to  the  authorities,  illus- 
trations, and  suggestions  of  character,  that  are  so  abun- 
dantly furnished  by  that  great  work.  The  letters  it 
contains,  extending  over  a  period  of  more  than  twenty 
years,  comprise  the  notices  of  the  country  gentleman,  the 
anxieties  of  the  parliament-man,  the  growing  ambition  of 
the  president  of  the  North,  the  unflagging  energy  of  the 
lord  deputy,  the  intense  purpose  and  reckless  daring  of 
the  lieutenant-general,  and  the  cares,  magnanimously 
borne,  of  the  ruined  and  forsaken  aspirant,  about  to 
render  the  forfeit  of  that  life,  which  three  kingdoms  had 
pronounced  incompatible  with  their  well-being.  Their 
evidence  is  the  more  unexceptionable,  that  they  are  no 
hasty  ebullitions,  the  offspring  of  the  moment,  a  sudden 
expression  of  sentiments  to  be  disavowed  in  succeeding 
intervals  of  calm.     With  a  view,  as  it  would  seem,  to 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  19 

guard  against  the  inconveniences  of  a  naturally  fiery  and 
uncontrollable  temperament,  Strafford  wrote  with  singular 
deliberation;  and  his  perspicuous  and  straightforward 
despatches^  deliver  the  results  of  a  thorough  conviction. 
"  He  never  did  any  thing  of  any  moment,"  remarks  sir 
George  Radcliffe,  ''concerning  either  political  or  domes- 
tical business,  without  taking  advice ;  not  so  much  as  a 
letter  written  by  him  to  any  great  man,  of  any  business, 
but  he  showed  it  to  his  confidents  if  they  were  near  him. 
The  former  part  of  his  life,  Charles  Greenwood  and 
myself  were  consulted  with  \  and  the  latter  part,  Chr. 
Wandesford  came  in  Charles  Greenwood's  room,  Charles 
Greenwood  desiring  not  to  be  taken  away  from  his  cure ; 
they  met  almost  daily,  and  debated  all  businesses  and 
designs,  pro  et  contra:  by  this  means  his  own  judgment 
was  very  much  improved,  and  all  the  circumstances  and 
probable  consequences  of  the  things  consulted  were  dis- 
covered and  considered."^  From  the  high  praise  which 
is  given  by  sir  George  to  this  practice,  it  is  to  be  inferred, 
moreover,  that  it  was  no  cheap  expedient  to  obtain  an 
obsequious  and  all-approving  set  of  counsellors ;  for  he 
complacently  subjoins,  that  such  a  course  "  is  very 
efficacious  to  make  a  wise  man,  even  though  he  advise 
with  much  weaker  men  than  himself:  for  there  is  no  man 
of  ordinary  capacity,  that  will  not  often  suggest  some 
things  which  might  else  have  been  let  slip  without  being 
observed ;  and  in  the  debatings  of  things,  a  man  may 
give  another  hints  and  occasions  to  observe  and  find  out 

1  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Brodie,  whose  work  con- 
tains several  valuable  suggestions  towards  the  life  of  Strafford, 
should  sufifer  himself  to  depreciate  so  strongly  the  merit  of  his  letters 
and  despatches,  and  his  intellectual  attainments  generally.  I  shall 
have  ample  occasion  to  refute  this. 

^  Essay. 


20  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

that,  which  he  that  speaks  to  it,  perhaps,  never  thinks 
on ;  as  a  whetstone,"  &c. ;  concluding  with  that  very- 
original  simile.  It  may  also  be  remarked  here,  that,  of 
his  more  important  despatches  to  the  king,  Wentworth 
was  accustomed  to  transmit  duplicates  to  the  leading 
members  of  the  council.  Thus,  in  a  letter  to  secretary 
Cooke,  he  writes  :  "  Having  such  confidence  in  your 
judgment  and  good  affection  both  towards  his  majesty's 
service  and  myself,  I  hold  it  fit  to  give  you  a  clear  and 
particular  understanding  of  all  my  proceedings  in  these 
affairs ;  to  which  end  I  have  sent  you  the  duplicates  of 
all  my  despatches  to  his  majesty  and  others,  as  you  will 
find  in  the  pacquet  this  bearer  shall  bring  unto  you ;  only 
I  desire  you  will  be  pleased  not  to  take  notice  thereof, 
unless  it  be  brought  unto  you  by  some  other  hand. 
These  businesses  have  cost  me  a  mighty  labour,  having 
been  at  first  written  over  by  my  own  hand.  And  I  have 
been  as  circumspect  and  considerate  therein  as  possibly 
I  could.  And  now,  I  beseech  you,  help  me  with  your 
judgment,  in  any  thing  you  shall  find  amiss ;  and  let  me 
clearly  and  speedily  be  led  into  the  right  path,  in  case  I 
have  erroneously,  in  any  thing,  swerved  from  that  which 
is  best  and  honourablest  for  our  master;  for  it  would 
grieve  me  more  than  any  other  thing,  if  my  weakness 
should  lead  him  into  the  least  inconvenience :  and  this 
you  ever  find  in  me, — that  no  man  living  shall  more 
promptly  depart  from  an  error  than  myself,  that  have,  in 
good  faith,  no  confidence  in  my  own  judgment,  how 
direct  and  intent  soever  my  affections  may  be."  What 
these  letters  want,  therefore,  in  those  sudden  and  familiar 
outbreaks  which  are  to  be  looked  for  in  a  less  guarded 
correspondence,  is  amply  made  up  in  the  increased 
authority  of  the  matter  thus  carefully  elaborated,  and 


'BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  21 

cautiously  put  forth.  Nor  are  instances  altogether  want- 
ing, in  which  the  curb  is  set  aside,  and  the  whole  nature 
of  the  writer  has  its  resistless  way. 

I  have  remarked  on  the  aristocratic  influences  which 
surrounded  Wentworth's  youth.  Everything  had  tended 
to  foster  that  principle  within  him.  His  ancient  lineage, 
extending,  at  no  very  distant  period,  to  the  blood  royal 
— the  degree  of  attention  which  must  have  early  attached 
itself  to  the  eldest  of  twelve  children — his  inheritance  of 
an  estate  of  6000/.  a  year,  an  enormous  fortune  in  those 
days — his  education — all  the  various  circumstances  which 
have  been  touched  upon — contributed  to  produce  a 
character  ill  fitted  to  comprehend  or  sympathise  with 
"your  Prynnes,  Pyms,  Bens,  and  the  rest  of  that  gener- 
ation of  odd  names  and  natures,^"  who  recognised,  in 
the  struggling  and  oppressed  Many,  those  splendid 
dawnings  of  authority,  which  others  were  disposed  to 
seek  only  in  the  One.  From  the  first  we  observe  in 
Wentworth  a  deep  sense  of  his  exact  social  position  and 
its  advantages.  This  is  explained  in  a  passage  of  a 
remarkable  letter,  written  at  a  later  period  to  his  early 
tutor,  Mr.  Greenwood,  but  which  I  shall  extract  here,  since 
it  has  reference  to  the  present  time.  "  My  sister  EUza- 
beth  writes  me  a  letter  concerning  my  brother  Mathew's 
estate,  which  I  know  not  how  to  answer  till  I  see  the 
will;  nor  do  I  know  what  it  is  she  claims — whether 
money  alone,  or  his  rent-charge  forth  of  my  lands,  or 
both.  Therefore  I  desire  the  copy  of  the  will  may  be 
sent  me,  and  her  demand,  and  then  she  shall  have  my 
answer.     This  brother,  that  she  saith  was  so  dear  unto 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  344.  Such  was  Wentworth's  ill- 
judged  classification.  "Ben"  may  be  presumed  to  have  meant  sir 
Benjamin  Rudyard. 


2  2  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

her,  had  well  tutored  her,  or  she  him,  being  the  couple 
of  all  the  children  of  my  father  that  I  conceived  loved 
me  least ;  it  may  be  they  loved  one  another  the  better 
for  that  too.     However  it  prove,  I  know  not ;  but  this  I 
am  most  assured, — that  in  case  any  of  the  three  brothers 
died  without  issue,   my  father  ever  intended  their  rent- 
charge  should  revert  to  me,  and  not  lie  still  as  a  clog  upon 
my  estate ;    or  that  any  daughter  of  his,  tvhom  he  had 
otherwise  provided  for  forth  of  the  estate,  should  this  inter- 
cept his  intentions  towards  his  heir.     But  how  often  hath 
he  been  pleased  to  excuse  unto  me  the  liberal  provisions  taken 
forth  of  my  estate  for  my  brothers  and  sisters  ?     And  as 
often  hath  been  assured  by  me,  I  thought  nothing  too  much 
that  he  had  done  for  them ;  and  yet  I  can  make  it  con- 
fidently appear,  that  he  left  not  my  estate  better  to  me  than 
my  grandfather  left  it  to  him,  by  200/.  a  year ;  nay,  some 
that  understand  it  very  well  have,  upon  speech  had  with 
me  about  it,  been  very  confident  he  left  it  me  rather  worse 
than  better  than  he  received  it.     But  I  shall  and  can,  I 
praise  God,  and  have  heretofore,  patiently  looked  upon 
their  peevishness  and  frowardness  towards  me,  and  all 
their  wise  and  prudent  councils  and  synods  they  have 
held  against   me,   as   if  they   had  been   to  have  dealt 
with  some  cheater  or  cozener,  not  with  a  brother,  who 
had   ever   carried   himself  justly  and   lovingly  towards 
them  ;  nor  do  I,  or  will  I,  deny  them  the  duties  I  owe 
unto  them,  as  recommended  unto  my  care  by  my  father. 
Nay,  as  wise  as  they  did,  or  do,  take  themselves  to  have 
been,  I  will  say,  it  had  not  been  the  worse  for  them,  as  I 
think,  if  they  had  taken  less  of  their  own  foolish  empty 
fancies,  and  followed  more  of  my  advice,  who,  I  must  needs 
say,  take  myself  to  have  been  full  as  able  to  have  directed 
their    course,    as    they   themselves    could    be    at    that 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


23 


age."^  Here  the  remark  cannot  but  occur,  of  the  very  early 
age  at  which  these  extraordinary  '  *  excuses  "  from  a  father 
to  a  son  must  have  been  proffered  and  accepted  !  Sir 
William  Wentvvorth  died  in  1614^,  shortly  after  his  son, 
who  had  scarcely  accomplished  his  twenty-first  year,  was 
returned  to  parliament  from  Yorkshire.  This  patriarchal 
authority,  then,  this  strong  sense  of  his  hereditary  rights 
of  property,  was  of  no  late  assumption ;  and  in  after  life 
it  was  Wentworth's  proud  satisfaction  that  he  came  not 
to  Ireland  "to  piece  up  a  broken  fortune."^ — ''For," 
says  he  elsewhere,  "  as  I  am  a  Christian,  I  spend  much 
more  than  all  my  entertainments  come  unto;  yet  I  do 
not  complain ;  my  estate  in  England  may  well  spare  me 
something  to  spend."  At  his  so  early  maturity,  being 
called  to  the  family  inheritance  by  the  death  of  his  father, 
a  new  charge  devolved  to  him  in  the  guardianship  of  his 
elder  sister's  children,  the  issue  of  sir  George  Savile, 
which  trust  he  faithfully  discharged.  His  own  account 
of  his  family  regards,  generally,  given  in  the  passage 
quoted,  appears  to  me  to  be  perfectly  just.  His  disposi- 
tion was  kind,  but  exacting.  Those  of  his  relations  who 
paid  him  proper  deference,  received  from  him  attentions 
and  care.  And  it  is  remarkable  to  observe,  in  those 
brothers,  for  instance,  who  continued  attached  to  him 
through  all  his  fortunes — one  an  intimate  counsellor, 
another  a  "  humble  poster  in  his  affairs  "• — the  complete 
deference  they  at  all  times  cheerfully  paid  to  him. 

Such  was  the  new  member  for  Yorkshire,  who  took 
his  seat  in  the  parliament  of  1 614.  I  have  described  the 
condition  of  affairs.  They  had  arrived  at  such  a  point, 
that  not  to  declare  in  favour  of  the  popular  party,  was  to 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol,  i.  p.  484.  ^  Radcliffe's  Essay. 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  138,  and  see  vol.  i.  p.  79. 


24  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

exert  an  influence  against  them.  The  liberal  strength 
had  not  declined  in  the  present  assembly.  The  con- 
federacy of  "  undertakers  1,"  banded  for  the  purpose  of 
influencing  the  elections,  had  pursued  their  vile  avoca- 
tions without  effect.  The  new  members  were  staunch ; 
resumed  complaints  against  monopolies  and  other  unjust 
grants;  called  the  bishop  of  Lincoln  to  account  for 
disrespectful  words ;  and  received  the  tribute  to  their 
honesty  of  a  dissolution  after  two  months'  sitting  ^^  and 
of  imprisonment,  in  many  cases,  afterwards.^  During 
these  two  months,  Wentworth  had  continued  silent ; — 
not  unobserved,  but  silent.  I  have  examined  the 
Journals,  and  find  no  trace  of  his  advocacy  of  either 
side  in  the  great  struggle.* 


^  For  the  origin  of  these  "strange  ugly  kind  of  beasts,"  as  the  king, 
in  his  subsequent  confession  of  their  existence,  oddly  called  them, 
see  Wilson,  in  Kennet,  vol.  ii.  p.  696.  For  James's  present  false 
denial  of  their  having  been  employed,  see  Carte,  vol.  iv.  pp.  19, 
20.  ;  Bacon's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  695.  ;  Commons'  Journals,  p.  462. 

^  "This  house  of  commons,"  says  Hume,  "showed  rather  a 
stronger  spirit  of  liberty  than  the  foregoing,  so  little  skill  had  the 
courtiers  for  managing  elections."  (vol.  v.  p.  49.)  It  subsequently 
received  from  the  politer  courtiers  the  title  of  the  "addle"  parlia- 
ment, from  the  circumstance  of  its  not  having  been  allowed  to  pass 
a  single  bill.  Aikin,  vol.  i.  p,  439.  See  a  curious  fact  mentioned 
in  D'Israeli's  Character  of  James,  p.  158.,  and  the  king's  assertion, 
in  his  remarkable  commission  for  the  dissolution. 

^  The  compilers  of  the  Parliamentary  History  have  denied  this  ; 
but  see  debate  on  it  in  Journals  of  Feb.  5.  12.  and  15.  1621  ;  and 
Hatsell's  proof,  vol.  i.  p.  133,  134.  edit.  1796.  Hume  admits  the 
statement,  vol.  v.  p.  50. 

^  In  some  of  the  less  precisely  accurate  histories, — in  Echard's, 
Oldmixon's,  and  Mrs.  Macaulay's — Wentworth  had  been  errone- 
ously ranked  as  one  of  the  "factious"  members  of  this  session,  who 
had  earned  imprisonment  after  the  dissolution  by  a  violent  personal 
attack  on  the  king.  Mr.  Brodie  set  the  mistake  completely  at  rest, 
by  showing  its  origin.  A  Mr.  Thomas  Wentworth,  a  very  popular 
member,  represented  Oxford  in  all  the  parliaments  of  James,  and  in 
the  two  first  parliaments  of  Charles.  It  was  he  who  spoke  violently, 
and  was  imprisoned.  It  was  he  also  who  took  the  active  part 
against  Buckingham  in  the  second  parliament,   which   had  been 


BROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  25 

At  the  close  of  the  session  he  returned  to  Yorkshire, 
and  a  year  passed  over  him  at  his  country  residence, 
engaged,  to  all  appearance,  in  no  pursuits  less  innocent 
than  his  favourite  sport  of  hawking.  Let  the  reader 
judge,  however,  if  his  personal  ambitions  had  been  for- 
gotten. Sir  John  Savile,  the  father  of  the  afterwards  lord 
Savile — and  not,  as  has  been  invariably  stated  by  modern 
writers,  the  lord  Savile  himself  ^ — at  this  time  held  an 
office  of  great  esteem  in  the  county, — that  of  custos 
rotulorum,  or  keeper  of  the  archives,  for  the  West  Riding. 
So  strong  an  influence,  however,  had  for  some  time  been 
moving  against  Savile  in  the  county,  that  the  lord 
chancellor  EUesmere  was  induced   to  interfere.      It  is 


ascribed  to  sir  Thomas  Wentworth  (who  did  not  sit  in  that  parlia- 
ment at  all),  even  by  Rushworth.  In  expressing  great  surprise  at 
this  mistake  on  the  collector's  part,  however,  Mr.  Brodie  overlooks 
the  circumstance  of  its  having  arisen  from  a  mere  error  of  the  press. 
Had  it  been  otherwise,  it  would  have  been  difficult  (considering  that 
Rushworth  attended  the  house  himself,  and  was  necessarily  ac- 
quainted with  the  persons  of  the  different  members)  to  have  received 
even  Mr.  Brodie's  authority  and  that  of  Wentworth's  own  letters, 
against  the  indefatigable  collector.  But  the  context  of  Rushworth 
shows  the  error  to  have  been  merely  one  of  the  press.  He  is  stating 
the  argument  of  the  lawyers  of  the  house  on  the  difference  between 
•'common  fame"  and  "  rumour  ;"  and  observes,  "It  was  declared 
by  sir  Tho.  Wentworth,  Mr.  Noy,  and  othei-  lawyers  in  the  debate," 
&c. — Now  Mr.  Wentworth  was  a  lawyer,  and  an  eminent  one,  the 
author  of  a  legal  treatise  of  great  merit  on  Executors,  and  recorder 
of  Oxford  ;  but  sir  Thomas  Wentworth  was  none  of  these  things. 
The  mistake  does  not  occur  again.  See  Rushworth,  vol.  i,  p,  217. 
The  author  of  the  History  continued  from  Mackintosh  has  fallen  into 
Rushworth's  error,  vol.  v.  p.  33. 

^  It  is  singular  that  this  mistake  should  have  occurred ;  for 
occasionally,  in  the  Papers,  he  is  called  "  the  old  knight,"  "  old  sir 
John,"  &c.  (vol.  i.  p.  38,  &c. )  ;  and  in  his  own  letter  to  the  lord 
chancellor  EUesmere,  on  which  the  whole  of  the  present  business 
turns,  he  expressly  alludes  to  "  service  of  forty  years  under  the  late 
queen  of  gracious  memory." — S.'rafford  Paper s^  vol.  i,  p.  2.  But  so 
incorrectly  are  circumstances  looked  at,  which  do  not  seem  to  bear 
immediately  on  the  matter  in  hand,  yet  are  to  illustrate  it  afterwards 
not  unimportantly. 


26  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

instructive  to  observe  that  sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  a  near 
kinsman  of  Wentworth's,  was  the  most  active  against 
Savile.  I  quote  a  passage  of  a  letter  from  Sheffield,  the 
lord  president  of  the  north,  to  Ellesmere  : — "  I  desired 
much  to  have  waited  upon  you  myself,  to  present  an 
information  lately  made  unto  me,  of  the  evil  carriage  of 
one  sir  John  Savile,  a  gentleman  of  Yorkshire,  one  of  the 
principal  in  commission,  that  maketh  use  of  his  authority 
to  satisfy  his  own  ends,  if  sundry  complaints  be  true, 
which  of  late  have  been  made  unto  me,  touching  one 
particular,  which  in  my  opinion  is  a  matter  of  foul  con- 
dition, and  which  I  am  bold  to  intreat  your  lordship  to 
give  me  leave  to  make  known  unto  you  by  the  relation 
of  sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  a  gentleman  of  good  worth,  to 
whom  the  particulars  of  that  matter  is  well  known."  The 
result  was,  that  in  1615  Savile  was  removed,  and  sir 
Thomas  Wentworth  appointed  to  the  office.  The  court 
had  not  forgotten  the  good  services  of  his  silence,  and 
Wentworth  was  not  ungrateful.  "Calling  to  mind,"  he 
afterwards  writes  to  Weston,  "  the  faithful  service  I  had 
the  honour  to  do  his  majesty,  now  with  God,  how 
graciously  he  vouchsafed  to  accept  and  express  it  openly 
and  sundry  times,  I  enjoy  within  myself  much  comfort 
and  contentment.  .  .  .  You  can  best  witness  the  opinion, 
nay,  I  might  say  the  esteem,  his  late  majesty  held  of  me."^ 
But  a  new  actor  now  appears  upon  the  scene,  in  whose 
hands  James  had  become  a  puppet,  and  to  whose  shame- 
less influence  he  had  surrendered  all  his  esteems  and 
regards.  Having  discharged  the  duties  of  his  new  office 
for  nearly  two  years,  Wentworth  received  (near  the  close 
of  16 1 7)  a  startling  notice  from  no  less  a  person  than  his 
grace  the  duke  of  Buckingham.  Old  Savile  had  been 
1  Letter,  dated  1626,  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  35,  36. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


27 


busy  with  him.  "  These  are  to  let  you  understand,  that, 
whereas  his  majesty  is  informed  that  sir  John  Savile 
yielded  up  his  place  of  custos  rotulorum  voluntarily  unto 
you,  whom  now  his  majesty  hath  received  into  favour 
again,  and  purposeth  to  employ  in  his  service,  his  majesty 
will  take  it  well  at  your  hands,  that  you  resign  it  up  again 
unto  him  with  the  same  willingness,  and  will  be  mindful 
of  you  to  give  you  as  good  preferment  upon  any  other 
occasion."  1  Buckingham,  however,  had  committed  a 
mistake  here.  Wentworth  replied  to  this  notice  in  a 
letter  which  has  unfortunately  been  lost,^  but  whose 
import  may  be  gathered  from  some  passages  in  Buck- 
ingham's reply  : — "  The  reasons  set  down  in  your  letter 
are  so  substantial  to  prove  that  sir  John  Savile  made  no 
voluntary  resignation  of  the  place  to  you,  but  yielded  it 
up  rather  out  of  a  necessity  to  avoid  that  which  otherwise 
would  have  fallen  upon  him,  that  I  see  it  was  a  misinfor- 
mation given  to  his  majesty  and  to  me,  which  occasioned 
the  writing  of  my  letter  unto  you."  Other  grounds  of 
apology  are  added,  and  Buckingham  proceeds  : — "  Upon 
these  grounds  I  thought  it  could  neither  be  any  wrong 
nor  disgrace  to  move  you  in  that  business ;  but  I  pray 
you  believe,  that  I  am  so  far  from  doing  the  least  in- 
dignity to  any  gentleman  of  your  worth,  that  I  would  be 
ready  upon  any  occasion  to  do  you  the  best  service  I 
could.  Therefore  I  desire  you  not  to  trouble  yourself 
either  with  any  doubt  of  further  proceeding  in  this  matter, 
which  went  so  far  only  upon  misunderstanding,  or  with 
so  long  a  journey  to  give  me  satisfaction,  seeing  I  have 
fully  received  it  by  your  letter,  and  have  acquainted  his 
majesty  with  the  true  state  of  the  business,  as  you  have 
set  it  down."  Buckingham  subscribes  himself  his  "  very 
^  Strafford  Papers,  i.  p.  4.  ^  ^^      3^^  jj.  -^^  ^^^^  jj  below. 

Of  rwf         '^ 

VERSITl 


28  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

assured  friend,"  and  then,  in  a  very  curious  and  significant 
postscript,  betrays  good  reason  for  his  sudden  change  of 
style,  and  sufficiently  explains  the  shrewd  and  deter- 
mined course  that  had  been  adopted  by  Wentworth  :  "  I 
beseech  you  to  excuse  me  to  my  lord  of  Cumberland  and 
my  lord  Clifford,  that  I  write  not  to  them  now,  as  I 
purpose  to  do  at  more  leisure ;  for  now  I  made  haste  to 
signify  that  which  I  have  to  you,  that  I  might  spare  you 
so  troublesome  a  journey."  So  Wentworth  continued  in 
his  place,  and  old  Savile,  eaten  up  with  mortified  spleen, 
waited  his  first  opportunity  of  retaliation. 

Wentworth  foiled  him  at  that  game  too,  by  striking  the 
first  blow !  A  new  parliament  was  spoken  of,  and  a 
strong  opposition  from  the  Savile  party  against  Wentworth 
significantly  indicated.  He  went  instantly  up  to  London; 
spoke  carelessly,  it  may  be  suppos'.ed,  to  his  friends  at 
court,  of  his  indifference  about  standing  any  contest ;  and 
so  won  from  the  ministerial  party  an  intreaty  that  he 
would  stand,  and  endeavour  to  bring  in  one  of  the  secre- 
taries of  state  along  with  him."^  Wentworth  then  con- 
sented, returned  to  Wentworth  Woodhouse,  and  com- 
menced his  election  exertions.  In  these  his  character 
had  full  play;  and  here,  in  the  first  great  effort  of  his 
public  life,  were  amply  vindicated  his  achievements  of 
a  later  period.  The  energy  and  activity  he  exhibited, 
amounted  almost  to  a  marvel !  Every  difficulty  sank 
before  him.  Doubts  were  satisfied,  jealousies  put  to 
shame,  indifference  moved  to  action,  enmity  even  to 
friendship,  dishonesty  foiled  in  its  own  way,  friends 
stimulated,  the  opposition  of  those  who  still  continued 
enemies  diverted.     I  mean  to  quote  these  letters  at  some 

^  **I  was  at  London  much  intreated,  and  indeed  at  last  enjoined^ 
to  stand  with  Mr.  Secretary  Calvert." — Strafford  Papers^  vol.  i.  p.  lo. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


29 


length  hereafter,  in  immediate  illustration  of  the  character 
of  the  lord  president  and  lord  deputy,  to  the  right  under- 
standing of  which  they  appear  to  me  to  offer  a  remarkable 
assistance.  Wentworth  of  course  triumphed,  for  nothing 
could  withstand  his  vigour  and  resources.  He  went  to 
the  poll,  after  all,  on  the  day  of  his  election,  with  Calvert, 
in  no  vain  reliance  on  friendly  professions,  but  with 
positive  lists,  furnished  him  by  the  petty  officers  of  the 
several  hundreds,  of  the  names  of  those  voters  who  had 
distinctly  engaged  to  support  his  interests.^ 

It  may  be  supposed  into  what  a  deadly  feud  the  hatred 
of  the  Saviles  had  now  been  provoked.  From  this  time 
we  hear  little  more  of  the  father  :  the  son,  sir  John  Savile 
the  younger,  supplies  his  place.  He  was  a  person  of 
mean  intellect ;  but  he  had  a  restless  ambition,  and  was 
active  in  ir.trigue.  He  had  "  suck'd  in  with  his  milk," 
as  Clarendon  says,  a  particular  malice  to  Wentworth ; 
and  through  his  life  he  had  many  opportunities  of  showing 
how  steadily  he  remembered  that  "Strafford  had  shrewdly 
overborne  his  father."  ^ 

Disgraceful  occurrences  had  filled  up  the  interval 
between  the  last  parliament  and  this  parliament  of  162 1. 
The  exaction  of  benevolences  ^ ;  the  usurpations  of  the 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  13. 

2  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  vol.  ii.  p.  155,  folio  edit. 

2  *'The  benevolence  goes  on.  A  merchant  of  London,  who  had 
been  a  cheesemonger,  but  now  rich,  was  sent  for  by  the  council,  and 
required  to  give  the  king  200/.,  or  to  go  into  the  Palatinate  and 
serve  the  army  with  cheese,  being  a  man  of  eighty  years  of  age.  He 
yielded  rather  than  pay,  though  he  might  better  have  given  nine 
subsidies  according  as  he  stands  valued.  This  was  told  to  me  by  one 
that  heard  it  from  his  owne  mouth.  They  talk  also  of  privy  seals. 
His  majestic  at  Theobald's,  discoursing  publicly  how  he  meant  to 
governe,  was  heard  to  say  he  would  governe  according  to  the  good 
of  the  conimon-weale,  but  not  according  to  the  common  will."  Such 
is  an  extract  from  a  MS.  letter  of  that  day.  Harl.  MSS.  389.  It  is 
partly  quoted  in  Ellis's  Original  Letters,  2d  series,  vol.  iii.  p.  241. 
It  is  veiy  characteristic. 


30 


BROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD, 


Star-chamber;  the  deaths  of  the  unfortunate  Arabella 
Stuart,  of  the  promising  youth  prince  Henry  \  and  of 
the  accomplished  Overbury ;  the  rapid  rise  of  Villiers ; 
the  pardon,  and  dark  allusions  of  Somerset  ^ ;  the  disgrace 
of  Coke ; — these  are  some  of  the  events  which  had 
blotted  the  history  of  the  nation.  And  these  were  of 
home  growth.  Abroad,  mischief  had  been  equally  busy ; 
for  the  small  remnant  of  foreign  policy  in  the  government 
disappeared  with  Cecil.  The  weak  and  unassisted 
Frederick,  son-in-law  of  the  English  king,  had  been 
ignominiously  driven  from  his  new  dominions  by  Spinola ; 
Prague  had  furnished  its  disasters ;  and  the  protestant 
interest — the  faith,  of  which,  as  he  had  abundantly  assured 
Vorstius,  James  conceited  himself  the  defender — was 
trampled  down  every  where. 

Proportioned  to  the  disgust  and  indignation  with  which 
these  things  had  been  contemplated  by  the  popular 
party,  were  the  feelings  with  which  they  now  assembled 

^  For  some  account  of  the  strange  circumstances  attending  the 
death  of  this  prince,  see  Osborne,  p.  531.  ;  Burnet,  vol.  i.  p.  10.  ; 
Winwood,  vol.  iii.  p.  410,  ;  Harris's  Life  of  James,  p.  301,  302. 
Fox,  in  his  letter  to  lord  Lauderdale,  stated  his  conviction  that 
Henry  had  been  poisoned.  The  report  of  the  physicians,  however, 
is  unanimous  on  this  point,  and  unfavourable  to  the  supposition. 
See  Cornwall's  Memoir,  in  the  2d  vol.  of  Somers'  Tracts  ;  and  the 
admirable  remark  of  Hume,  vol.  v.  p.  48. 

2  See  Osborne,  p.  534.  ;  Weldon,  pp.  95.  168.  125.  ;  and  Harris, 
pp.  82 — 86.  ;  for  certain  remarkable  points  in  the  character  of  James. 
With  respect  to  the  allusions  of  Somerset,  see  Weldon,  p.  1 18.  ;  the 
king's  letters  to  Bacon,  in  the  Cabala ;  Birch's  edition  of  Bacon, 
vol.  iii.  ;  and  Von  Raumer's  63d  letter,  in  his  Illustrations  of 
History.  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  a  curious  note,  in  his  edition  of 
Somers'  Tracts  (vol.  ii,  p.  488.),  on  this  mysterious  affair.  See 
also  Somers'  Tracts,  vol.  ii.  pp.  335,  336.  ;  and  Brodie's  History, 
pp.  15 — 19.  I  have  no  inclination  to  venture  an  opinion  on  so 
extremely  unpleasant  a  subject ;  but  if  suspicions  reasonably  pre- 
vailed before,  the  publication  of  Von  Raumer's  work  on  the  history 
of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  is  not  likely  to  lessen  them. 
Dr.  Lingard  has  put  forward  objections,  which  see  in  his  History, 
vol.  vi.  p.  116.  quarto  edit. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  31 

in  this  parliament  of  1621.  The  early  sittings  were 
distinguished  by  active  and  resolute  steps  in  behalf  of 
privilege.  It  is  not  necessary  to  allude  to  them  at  any 
length  here.  Some  great  state  criminals  were  subse- 
quently struck  down ;  and  after  a  few  months,  the 
parliament  was  dissolved  by  proclamation,  and  the  king 
committed  himself  in  many  acts  of  foolish  violence.^ 

Wentworth  had  taken  litde  or  no  part  in  these  pro- 
ceedings. He  avoided  the  risk  of  endangering  a  certain 
show  of  country  independence,  by  active  opposition  to 
what  was  called  the  country  party,  and  held  the  most 
moderate  of  courses  between  the  court  and  the  people. 
The  service  he  had  already  rendered  to  the  former  in  the 
matter  of  Calvert's  return,  he  had  been  enabled  to  render 
palatable  to  his  county  by  the  circumstances  of  the  Savile 
feud;  and  it  now  left  him  to  a  convenient  kind  of 
neutrality  in  other  respects,  which  might  be  felt,  in  secret 
quarters,  as  no  less  serviceably  intended  to  the  court.  I 
find  him  acting  on  committees  in  this  parliament,  but 
never  putting  himself  forward  as  a  speaker.  Shortly 
after,  he  explained  his  policy  in  this  respect,  in  a  letter  to 
his  brother-in-law  lord  Clifford.  Alluding  to  parliaments, 
he  says, — "  For  my  opinion  of  these  meetings  your  lord- 
ship knows  sufficiently,  and  the  services  done  there 
coldly  requited  on  all  sides,  and,  which  is  worse,  many 
times  misconstrued.  I  judge  further,  the  path  we  are 
like  to  walk  in  is  now  more  narrow  and  slippery  than 
formerly,  yet  not  so  difficult  but  may  be  passed  with  circum- 
spection, patience,  and  principally  silence."  2  The 
present  dissoludon  Wentworth  regretted ;  but  he  made 
silence  chiefly  serve  to  assist  him  in  this  also.     "  As  for 

^  See  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  pp.  52 — 55. 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  19. 


32  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

the  disaster,"  he  writes  to  lord  D'Arcy,  "  fallen  upon  this 
so  hopeful  a  parliament,  albeit  I  should  take  pleasure  to 
relate  it,  yet  the  enclosed  proclamation  for  dissolution 
might  well  save  me  the  labour;  much  more  then,  when 
I  cannot  think  a  thought  of  it  but  with  grief,  will  it  well 
become  me  to  be  silent."  ^ 

He  had  moved  his  family  up  from  Wentworth  Wood- 
house  before  the  session;  and  they  resided,  during  its 
continuance,  in  Austin  Friars.  Here  his  body  first  began 
to  show  its  extreme  frailty.  He  had  "a  great  fever," 
says  sir  George  Radclifife;  one  of  those  pestilential  fevers, 
it  is  to  be  presumed,  which  so  often  ravaged  the  close 
and  crowded  streets  of  London ;  and  which  at  the  same 
time  (1622)  struck  his  wife  more  fatally.  He  removed 
from  London,  but  too  late  to  save  the  lady  Margaret. 
She  died  shortly  after,  leaving  no  issue,  but  a  memory 
which  he  held  in  respectful  regard. 

In  his  intercourse  with  his  court  friends  at  London 
Wentworth  had  zealously  interested  himself  in  behalf  of 
two  or  three  of  his  brothers. ^  The  anxiety  with  which 
he  sought  to  get  them  fairly  "settled"  somehow,  was 
extremely  characteristic.  The  first  thing  we  now  find 
him  engaged  in  at  Wentworth  Woodhouse  after  his 
domestic  loss,  is  the  following-out  of  these  exertions  for 
the  youths  of  his  family.  He  writes  to  sir  Edward 
Conway,  one  of  the  king's  principal  secretaries  of  state, 
to  remind  him  of  his  promises  in  behalf  of  "  the  bearer, 
my  fifth  brother,  who,  intending  to  try  his  fortune  in  the 
wars,  desires  more  than  in  any  place  to  serve  as  a  gentle- 
man of  the  company  under  my  cousin  your  son."  He 
apologises  for  not  having  seen  the  secretary  before  leaving 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  15. 

^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol,  i.  pp.  14.  16.  18. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  33 

London,  on  the  score  of  the  sudden  necessity  of  his 
illness.  "  If  you  would  vouchsafe  him,"  he  continues, 
"  so  much  of  your  favour,  as  to  recommend  him  by  your 
letters  in  such  sort,  that  my  cousin  may  be  pleased  to 
afford  him  his  good  direction  and  counsel,  and  cast  his 
eye  upon  him  as  a  kinsman  (if  his  carriage  may  be  such 
as  may  deserve  it),  I  should  judge  myself  much  bound 
unto  you  for  this,  as  for  other  your  many  noble  curtesies 
bestowed  upon  me.  And  this  I  will  be  answerable  for, 
— that  he  shall  approve  himself,  by  God's  grace,  religious,  . 
honest,  well  governed,  and  daring  enough.  I  conceive, 
likewise,  (if  it  might  stand  with  your  good  pleasure)  that 
a  letter  of  recommendation  to  sir  Horace  Vere  might 
stand  him  in  good  stead,  which  I  humbly  submit  to  your 
wisdom,  and  myself  to  your  honourable  censure  for  this 
my  boldness."  This  is  the  same  thought,  the  reader  will 
perceive,  as  that  which  suggested  itself  to  Eliot  when 
writing  to  Hampden  of  his  younger  son.  Sir  Edward 
Conway  at  once  granted  the  request,  and  Michael  Went- 
worth  was  sent  off  to  the  wars.  Not  without  a  letter 
from   his   brother,  however,  of  excellent   purpose   and  / 

advice.  Among  many  sound  suggestions  for  his  pro- 
fessional advancement,  he  observes, — "  Methinks  it  were 
good  to  keep  a  journal-book  of  all  that  passeth  during 
your  being  in  the  army;  as  of  your  removes,  your 
skirmishes,  your  incampings,  the  order  of  your  marches, 
of  your  approaches,  of  your  retreats,  of  your  fortifications, 
of  your  batteries,  and  such  like ;  in  the  well  and  sound 
disposal  whereof,  as  I  conceive,  consists  the  chief  skill 
and  judgment  of  a  soldier."  The  letter  concludes  admir- 
ably : — "  Only  let  me  add  this  one  counsel, — that  if  you 
come  in  person  to  be  brought  on  in  any  service,  I  con- 
ceive you  shall  do  well  to  go  on  with  the  sober  and 

D 


34  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Stayed  courage  of  an  understanding  man,  rather  than 
with  the  rash  and  ill-tempered  heat  of  an  unadvised  youth. 
In  which  course  too,  I  conceive,  you  may  sufficiently 
vindicate  yourself  from  the  opinion  of  fear  and  baseness, 
and  gain  a  good  esteem  among  the  wiser  sort.  And, 
indeed,  a  man  that  ventures  himself  desperately  beyond 
reason  (besides  that  thereby  he  too  much  undervalues 
himself)  shall  by  men  of  sure  and  sad  brains  be  deemed, 
without  doubt,  unfit  for  government  and  command,  that 
exerciseth  none  of  it  first  over  his  own  unruly  and  mis- 
leading passions."  This  conduct,  so  deprecated  here  by 
Wentworth,  is  a  description  of  that  very  conduct  which 
it  is  the  general  custom  to  ascribe  to  the  earl  of  Strafford ; 
but  incorrectly,  as  I  trust  I  shall  be  able  to  show. 

His  health  had  now  strengthened,  and  with  it  a  flow 
of  good  spirits  came.  Sir  George  Calvert,  the  king's 
secretary  of  state,  was  selected  for  the  first  advantage  of 
these.  "Mr.  Tailor  telling  me,"  Wentworth  writes,  "he 
would  see  you  before  the  end  of  this  week,  I  might  not 
omit  to  present  my  service  unto  you  in  these  few  lines. 
Matter  worthy  your  trouble  these  parts  afford  none,  where 
our  objects  and  thoughts  are  limited  in  looking  upon  a 
tulip,  hearing  a  bird  sing,  a  rivulet  murmuring,  or  some 
such  petty,  yet  innocent  pastime,  which  for  my  part  I 
begin  to  feed  myself  in,  having,  I  praise  God,  recovered 
more  in  a  day  by  an  open  country  air,  than  in  a  fort- 
night's time  in  that  smothering  one  of  London.  By  my 
troth  I  wish  you,  divested  of  the  importunity  of  business, 
here  for  half  a  dozen  hours,  you  should  taste  how  free 
and  fresh  we  breathe,  and  how  procul  metu  fruimur 
modestis  opibus, — awanting  sometimes  to  persons  of 
greater  eminency  in  the  administration  of  commonwealths. 
But  seeing  this  is  denied  to  you  in  your  course,  and  to 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  35 

me  as  part  of  my  misfortune,  I  shall  pray  you  may  ever 
receive  as  full  contentment  in  those  more  weighty  as  we 
do  in  these  lighter,  entertainments,"  ^ 

This  "innocent  pastime,"  nevertheless,  did  not  with- 
hold him  from  the  parliament,  which  was  now  summoned. 
Its  proceedings  have  been  described  in  the  life  of  Eliot. 
Wentworth  played  his  usual  cautious  part,  and  returned 
to  Wentworth  Woodhouse,  at  its  adjournment,  a  better 
friend  than  ever,  more  playful  and  more  confidential,  to 
;^is  majesty's  "  principal  secretary  of  state."  Calvert 
himself  had  gone  to  his  country  seat  at  Thistleworth, 
and  is  congratulated  by  his  correspondent  with  many 
classical  similitudes  and  quotations,  on  having  "retired 
to  the  delights  of  his  Tusculanie,  ereptus  specioso  ejus 
damno!^  An  amusing  anecdote  of  James,  then  hunting 
with  his  court  at  Rufford,  concludes  the  letter.  "  The 
loss  of  a  stag,  and  the  hounds  hunting  foxes  instead  of  a 
deer,  put  the  king,  your  master,  into  a  marvellous  chaff, 
accompanied  with  those  ordinary  symptoms  better  known 
to  you  courtiers,  I  conceive,  that  to  us  rural  swains  ;  in 
the  height  whereof,  comes  a  clown  galloping  in,  and 
staring  full  in  his  face:  His  blood!  (quoth  he)  am  I 
co7ne  forty  miles  to  see  a  fellow  ?  and  presently  in  a  great 
rage  turns  about  his  horse,  and  away  he  goes  faster  than 
he  came ;  the  oddness  whereof  caused  his  majesty  and 
all  the  company  to  burst  out  into  a  vehement  laughter ; 
and  so  the  fume  for  that  time  was  happily  dispersed." 

Seven  days  after  this,  the  "rural  swain"  of  Woodhouse 
writes  again  to  his  selected  confidant.  He  begins  by  a 
laughing  mention  of  having  written  some  politics  recently 
to  his  "  cousin  Wandesford,  as  being  a  statist "  a  politician, 
a  meddler  in  state  aifairs ;  "but  herewith  you,"  he  adds, 
1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  16. 


^6  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

"  I  have  matters  of  other  guess  stuff  to  relate, — that  our 
harvest  is  all  in,  a  most  fine  season  to  make  fish-ponds, 
our  plums  all  gone  and  past,  peaches,  quinces,  and 
grapes  almost  fiilly  ripe,  which  will,  I  trow,  hold  better 
relish  with  a  Thistleworth  palate,  and  approve  me  how 
to  have  the  skill  to  serve  every  man  in  his  right  cue. 
These  only  we  countrymen  muse  of,  hoping  in  such 
harmless  retirements  for  a  just  defence  from  the  higher 
powers,  and,  possessing  ourselves  in  contentment,  pray 
with  Dryope  in  the  poet, — 

*  Et  siqua  est  pietas,  ab  acutse  vulnere  falcis 
Et  pecoris  morsu,  fi-ondes  defendite  nostras.' 

— Thus,  you  see,  Ovid  serves  us  at  every  turn.  How 
bold  we  are  with  you  since  you  entred  our  list;  and 
how  we  take  time,  while  time  serves  !  For,  Michaelmas 
once  come,  and  your  secretary's  cloak  on  your  shoulders, 
I  trust,  you  shall  find  us  better  manner'd  than  to  interrupt 
your  serious  hours  with  our  toys."  On  the  arrival  of 
Michaelmas,  however,  the  parliament  was  again  ad- 
journed, for  the  purpose,  as  it  afterwards  appeared,  of 
a  final  dissolution.  Our  rural  swain,  in  consequence, 
desptches  with  an  airy  sauciness  to  his  state  friend,  in 
a  tone  between  jest  and  earnest,  some  slight  shades  of 
significant  advice,  dashed  with  a  sort  of  reminder  that 
the  writer — though  given  to  looking  at  tulips,  and 
hearing  birds  sing,  and  rivulets  murmuring,  and  keeping 
sheep  from  biting  his  hedges,  and  such  like  innocent 
pastime — might  yet  be  called  upon,  as  an  effect  of  want 
of  employment,  to  play  the  part  of  an  "  unruly  fellow  in 
parliament."  The  words  of  this  letter  are  eminently 
happy  and  well  chosen.  "Now,"  says  Wentworth,  "that 
you  have  given  us  a  put-off  till  February,  we  are  at  good 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  37 

ease  and  leisure  to  pry  (the  true  effects  of  want  of 
employment)  saucily  out  of  our  own  calling  into  the 
mysteries  of  state ;  to  cast  about  for  a  reason  of  this 
sudden  change.  In  a  word,  we  conclude,  that  the 
French  treaty  must  first  be  consummate  before  such 
unruly  fellows  meet  in  parliament,  lest  they  might  appear 
as  agile  against  this,  as  that  other  Spanish  match.  For 
my  part  I  like  it  well,  and  conceive  the  bargain  wholsom 
on  our  side,  that  we  save  three  other  subsidies  and 
fifteenths.  Less  could  not  have  been  demanded  for  the 
dissolving  of  this  treaty,  and  still  the  king  your  master 
have  pretended  to  suffer  loss  (no  doubt  for  our  satisfac- 
tion only),  which  certainly  we  should  have  believed,  and 
reputed  ourselves  great  gainers,  and  that  rightly  too. 
For  is  it  a  small  matter^  trow  you,  for  poor  swaitis  to 
unwind  so  dextrotisly  your  courtly  true-love  knots  ?  You 
think  we  see  nothing;  but  believe  it,  you  shall  find  us  legis- 
lators, no  fools  ;  albeit,  you  of  the  court  {for  by  this  time 
I  am  sure  you  have,  by  a  fair  retreat  from  Thistleworth, 
quit  your  part  of  a  country  life  for  this  year)  think  to  blear 
our  eyes  with  your  sweet  balls,  and  leave  us  in  the  suds, 
when  you  have  done.  Thus  much  for  the  common-weal. 
For  your  own  self,  I  am  right  glad  for  your  ague  re- 
covered ;  hoping  it  will  cleanse  away  all  bad-disposed 
humours,  and  give  entrance  consequently  unto  a  settled 
continuing  health,  wherein  no  man  alive  shall  be  more 
pleased.  In  the  alacrity  of  which  faith,  and  out  of  an 
earnest  desire  to  be  made  an  eye-witness  thereof,  you 
shall  have  (God  willing)  within  these  few  weeks  to  attend 
you,  your  honour's  ever  most  humbly,  most  readily  to  be 
command,  Thomas  Wentworth." 

It  is  just  possible  that  these  hints  might  have  been 
taken  at  last  by  the  court  party,  but  that  Wentworth's 


38  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

proposed  journey  was  retarded  by  a  sudden  return  of 
illness.  In -the  spring,  Radcliffe  observes,  "  as  I  take  it, 
he  had  a  double  tertian ;  and  after  his  recovery,  a  relapse 
into  a  single  tertian;  and,  a  while  after,  a  burning 
fever."  On  his  recovery  from  these  afflicting  disorders, 
he  came  instantly  up  to  London.  Charles  now  sat  upon 
the  English  throne,  and  Buckingham's  influence  reigned 
over  the  royal  councils  more  absolutely  than  even  in 
James's  time.  This,  it  is  probable  (for  he  had  had  good 
reason  to  suspect  a  personal  dislike  on  Buckingham's 
part),  induced  Wentworth  to  venture  more  openly  among 
the  popular  party,  and  by  that  means  convey  to  the  king, 
inaccessible  through  his  minister,  the  importance  of  his 
talents  and  services.  I  shall  show  very  soon  how 
extremely  anxious  he  was  to  exhibit  himself,  as  it  were, 
personally  to  the  king.  We  find  him  now,  accordingly, 
in  frequent  communication  with  Denzil  Hollis,  and  others 
of  the  popular  men.  He  had,  from  the  first,  provided  a, 
convenient  organ  of  communication  with  them,  in  the 
person  of  his  kinsman  Wandesford,  who  subsequently 
proved  so  accommodating  a  patriot.  Soon  after  this 
(one  of  the  results  of  his  visits  to  the  house  of  Hollis's 
father,  the  earl  of  Clare),  he  married  the  lady  Arabella 
Holhs,  "  younger  daughter  of  the  earl,  a  lady  exceeding 
comely  and  beautiful,  and  yet  much  more  lovely  in  the 
endowments  of  her  mind."  ^ 

Wentworth  now  began  to  be  talked  of  as  an  accession 
to  the  liberal  party,  and  the  court  grew  somewhat  alarmed. 
On  the  meeting  of  parliament,  his  election  for  Yorkshire 
came  into  dispute,  and,  as  I  have  shown  in  the  memoir 
of  Eliot,  the  ministerial  men  supported  his  claims.  No 
doubt  this  arose  from  a  desire,  by  some  little  sacrifice  in 
^  Radcliffe's  Essay. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  39 

a  matter  of  no  essential  concern,  to  nip  slightly  the  bud- 
ding patriot.  Eliot's  opposition  threw  him  out.  What 
has  been  already  suggested  on  this  subject  1,  is  corrobor- 
ated by  some  occasional  allusions  in  the  Strafford  papers. 
Wentworth's  friend;  sir  Richard  Beaumont,  for  instance, 
writes  in  answer  to  his  earnest  request : — "  My  occasions 
are,  and  have  been  such,  as  with  no  convenience  I  can 
come  up  to  London ;  for  which  I  am  very  sorry,  that  I 
shall  not  enjoy  your  good  company  this  summer,  and 
give  what  assistance  I  could  to  make  good  our  York 
election,  which  I  hold  as  clear  as  the  noon  sun,  for  if  it 
be  tolerated  that  men  shall  come  six,  seven,  nay,  ten 
apprentices  out  of  a  house,  this  is  more  like  a  rebellion 
than  an  election.  The  gentry  are  wronged,  the  free- 
holders are  wronged."  ^  Sir  Richard  Beaumont  goes  on 
to  allude  to  the  borough  of  Pontefract,  observes  that  he 
is  much  beholden  for  the  honour  of  having  been  elected 
there,  but  hints  a  private  reason  which  will  prevent  his 
accepting,  and  suggests  the  name  of  another  friend  to  be 
returned  on  a  new  writ.  "  I  should  have  been  willing  to 
have  kept  your  place  for  you,  or  for  any  friend  of  yours, 
and  served  in  it,  and  yielded  it  up  of  an  hour's  warning 
to  have  done  you  service ;  but  as  it  is,"  &c.  It  would 
appear  from  this,  that  Wentworth  had  already,  against 
the  chance  of  defeat,  secured  a  seat  to  fall  back  upon,  in 
the  borough  of  Pontefract.^ 

When  the  parliament  commenced  proceedings,  Went- 
worth partly  showed  gratitude  to  the  court,  and  partly 
redeemed  his  new  alliance.  He  spoke  with  extreme 
moderation,  and  advised  a  grant  of  subsidies,  while  at  the 

1  Memoir  of  Eliot,  pp.  31,  32. 

2  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  27. 

^  See  Letter  to  the  Mayor  of  Pontefract,  vol.  i.  p.  26. 


40 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


same  time  he  intimated  opposition  to  Buckingham.  The 
adjournment  to  Oxford  then  took  place;  but,  on  their 
re-assembling,  while  Eliot  and  others  were  dooming 
the  minister  to  impeachment,  Wentworth  continued  silent 
The  cause  of  this  will  very  soon  appear. 

He  returned  to  Yorkshire.  Necessity,  in  a  few  months, 
called  together  another  parliament.  He  set  to  work 
instantly  to  prepare  for  his  election  ;  but,  in  the  m.idst 
of  his  arrangements,  to  the  infinite  surprise  of  himself 
no  less  than  of  his  friends,  an  announcement  reached 
him  that  his  name  was  among  those  of  the  men  disabled 
from  serving,  by  Buckingham's  notable  scheme  of  prick- 
ing them  sheriffs  of  their  respective  counties.  Wentworth 
was  now  sheriff  of  Yorkshire.  Sir  Arthur  Ingram,  a 
cautious  friend,  writing  to  him  at  this  moment,  gave  him 
one  consolation  : — "  //  was  told  me  by  two  counsellors^ 
that  in  the  naming  of  you,  the  king  said,  you  were  an 
ho7iest  gentleman,  but  not  a  tittle  to  any  of  the  rest.  This 
much  advantage  have  you  that  way.^^  He  had  previously 
said  that  every  exertion  to  prevent  the  step  had  been 
used,  but  added,  "  I  think,  if  all  the  council  that  was  at 
court  had  joined  together  in  request  for  you,  it  would 
not  have  prevailed  :  for  it  was  set  and  resolved  what 
should  be  done  before  the  great  duke's  going  over,  and 
from  that  the  king  would  not  change  a  tittle."  ^  Buck- 
ingham had  gone  by  this  time  into  Holland ;  and  it 
would  thus  appear  that  Charles,  though  inclined  favour- 
ably to  Wentworth,  did  not  dare  to  contravene  the  order 
of  his  minion. 

Be  that  as  it  might,  here  was  a  great  occasion.  It  was 
soon  announced  to  Wentworth  that  the  pricked  men 
were  resolved  to  make  a  struggle,  to  defeat  the  unusual 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  29. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  41 

tyranny  that  had  sought  to  disable  them  from  parliament. 
"  I  met  with  sir  Francis  Seymour  here,  at  Reading,"  writes 
the  cautious  Ingram ;  "  I  find  by  him  that  he  is  very 
desirous  to  be  of  the  house,  notwithstanding  he  is  chosen 
sheriff;  he  hath  taken,  as  he  telleth  me,  very  good  advice 
in  it;  and  he  hath  been  resolved,  that  he  may  be 
returned,  and  serve  for  any  town  or  city  that  is  out  of 
his  own  county.  He  would  gladly  that  you  would  favour 
him  so  much  as  to  get  him  chosen  for  some  place  in  the 
north,  and  he  will,  if  it  stand  with  your  good  liking,  have 
you  chosen  in  the  west.  This  he  did  desire  me  to  write 
to  you  of,  and  that  you  would  send  him  or  me  an  answer 
so  soon,  as  you  can.  This,  his  desire,  I  have  by  these 
few  lines  made  known  unto  you,  leaving  it  to  your  own 
wisdom  to  do  therein  what  you  shall  think  good.  For 
my  own  poor  opinion,  it  is  a  thing  that  no  doubt  will  dis- 
please the  king  exceeding  much,  and,  therefore,  to  be  well 
considered  of.  On  the  other  side,  I  think  the  house  woicld  be 
exceeding  glad  of  it,  and  would  hold  you  in,  in  spite  of  any. 
That  which  induceth  sir  Francis  the  rather  in  this  is, 
that  he  knoweth  that  sir  Edward  Coke,  and  sir  Robert 
Philips  will  be  both  returned.  But,  good  sir,  out  of 
the  love  I  bear  to  you,  I  dare  not  give  you  any 
encouragement  in  it."  ^  Wentworth's  conduct  upon  this 
was  decisive  of  the  character  I  am  endeavouring  to 
represent.  With  the  ready  and  resolved  purpose  of  a 
man  who  is  already  decided  on  the  main  course  to  be 
pursued,  yet  is  not  unwilling  that  it  should  receive  cor- 
roboration or  modification  from  his  friends,  he  instantly 
consulted  several  of  them.  Observe  how  characteristi- 
cally this  is  conveyed,  in  a  letter  from  his  father-in-law, 
lord  Clare  :  "  You  resolve,  in  my  opinion  of  this  particular, 
1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  30. 


42  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

rightly;  for  we  live  under  a  prerogative  government, 
where  book-law  submits  unto  lex  loquens ;  then  be  these 
extra  ordinaries,  that  rely  rather  upon  inference  or  inter- 
pretation than  the  letter,  too  weak  staves  for  such 
subjects  to  lean  upon.  This  is  a  novelty  and  a  stranger, 
that  a  sheriff,  who,  according  to  the  received  rule  of  our 
forefathers,  is  tied  to  his  county  as  a  snail  to  his  shell, 
may  cause  himself  to  be  chosen  a  burgess,  or  servant  for 
a  borough,  and  so  in  a  sort  quit  the  greater  and  the 
king's  service  for  a  subject's  and  a  less  :  therefore^  as  a 
novelty,  it  is  rather  to  be  followed  than  to  begin  it,  and  as 
a  stranger  to  be  admitted  as  a  probationer,  and  to  be 
embraced  upon  further  acquaintance.  For  my  part,  I 
shall  be  glad  if  sir  Edward  Coke  and  sir  Robert  Philips 
can  make  their  undertaking  good  :  and  I  could  wish  sir 
Francis  Seymour  were  a  burgess,  so  you  were  not  seen 
in  it :  and  if  any  of  them,  without  your  knowledge  and 
consent,  shall  confer  any  such  place  upon  you,  you  are  no 
way  in  fault  thereby ;  and  yet  Caesar's  wife  must  be  free 
from  suspicion ;  so  as  I  may  conclude,  it  is  not  good  to 
stand  within  the  distance  of  absolute  power.  But  I  see 
the  issue :  the  question  will  fall  between  the  king  and 
the  parliament ;  the  house  will  demand  her  member,  and 
the  king  denies  his  officer,  and  the  king's  election  was 
prior,  so  as  in  conclusion  some  drops  of  displeasure  may 
fall  upon  the  borough,  whose  charter  is  always  in  the 
king's  reach.  But  this  is  my  chimera,  and  the  lion  may 
be  less  terrible  than  the  picture.  Howsoever  this  well 
succeeding  would  put  the  courtier  out  of  his  trick,  secure 
the  parliament  better,  and  the  subject  in  general,  and 
make  great  ones  more  cautious  in  wrestling  with  that 
high  court.  Yet  as  you  write,  son,  this  business  is  of  such 
a  nature,  as  it  is  much^  better  to  be  a  spectator  than  an 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


43 


actor ^  and  in  this  I  give  you  no  opinion;  I  only  confirm 
yoursT  ^  His  resolution  now  perfectly  assured,  Wentworth 
writes  in  playful  confidence  to  his  kinsman,  Wandesford, 
whose  services  he  relied  on  to  keep  him  as  well  as 
possil)le  with  the  popular  members.  He  begins  by  a 
pleasant  piece  of  humour :  "  Returna  brevium  is  the 
office  of  a  sheriff  indeed, — but  in  this,  that  in  this  high 
calling  (and  now  sworn  too,)  I  answer  your  long  letter,  is 
more  than  in  justice,  scarcely  in  favour,  you  could  expect 
from  me;  and  little  less  than  incivility  in  you  thus  to 
abuse  a  simple  gentleman  in  his  place,  and  put  me 
beyond  the  length  of  my  tether,  it  being  my  part  this 
year,  laconicum  agere,  as  becomes  best,  to  say  truth,  a 
man  of  affairs, — attendant  upon  justices,  escheators, 
juries,  bankrupts,  thieves,  and  such  kind  of  cattle.  Well 
then,  still  to  pursue,  as  a  good  officer  should  do,  the 
duties  of  my  vocation,  I  will  tell  you,  my  purpose  is  to 
carry  myself  in  such  a  temper,  that  for  my  expense  it 
shall  participate  of  moderation  and  sobriety,  without  the 
least  tincture  of  wantonness  or  petulancy,  which  will  both 
better  express  the  sense  wherewith  I  take  it  from  above, 
and  be  more  suiting  with  that  just  regard  1  owe  the 
gentry  of  this  country,  to  whom  I  have  been  so  much 
beholden ;  of  whom  I  should  be  too  much  forgetful,  and 
of  my  own  modesty  too,  if  I  did  any  ways  intend  (at 
least  as  far  as  my  indiscretion  could  go,)  to  bring  the 
former  hcentious  custom  in  again  so  much  to  their 
prejudice.  Tiierefore,  in  a  word,  come  king,  come  judge, 
I  will  keep  myself  within  the  articles  made  when  sir  Guy 
Palmes  was  sheriff;  and  run  dog,  run  cat,  drink  a  red 
ryal  by  the  place  at  least,  by  God's  leave."  He  goes 
through  many  topics  very  amusingly,  and  then  observes, 
1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  31. 


44  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

**  You  will  partly  see  by  the  enclosed^  how  the  pulse  beats 
above,'' — which  I  take  to  be  an  allusion  to  the  letter  (he 
afterwards  desires  it  to  be  enclosed  back  to  him,)  of 
his  friend  Ingram,  in  which  the  king's  feeling  had  been 
so  favourably  expressed.  "  For  my  own  part''  he  con- 
tinues, '"'  I  will  commit  others  to  their  active  heat,  myself, 
according  to  the  season  of  the  year,  fold  myself  up  in  a  cold 
silent  forbearance,  apply  myself  cheerfully  to  the  duties  of 
my  place,  and  heartily  pray  to  God  to  bless  sir  Francis 
Seymour.  For,  my  rule,  which  I  will  not  transgress,  is, 
*  Never  to  contend  with  the  prerogative  out  of  a  parlia- 
ment;  nor  yet  to  contest  with  a  king  but  when  I  am 
constrained  thereunto.' "  ^ 

Wentworth  faithfully  adhered  to  these  intentions ;  and 
while  "  the  great,  warm,  and  ruffling  parliament "  in 
London  was  infusing,  by  the  boldness  of  its  acts  and 
words,  new  spirit  and  strength  into  the  country,  he 
remained  quiet  in  Yorkshire,  discharging  his  duty,  as 
his  humourous  classification  had  described  it,  among 
"justices,  escheators,  juries,  bankrupts,  thieves,  and  such 
like  cattle."  It  is  true  he  had  found  time  to  attend  in 
London  for  certain  purposes  that  are  speedily  to  be  ex- 
plained, but  he  did  not  meddle  with  parliament  matters 
there,  returning  to  Yorkshire  again  as  quiet  as  before, 
and,  indeed,  a  little  more  contented.^ 

Soon  afterwards,  before  the  proceedings  of  the  parlia- 
ment had  closed,  and  while  attending  a  county  meeting 
in  his  office  of  high  sheriff,  a  paper  was  handed  to 
Wentworth.  It  was  the  king's  warrant  dismissing  him 
from  the  office  he  had  so  ardently  desired  to  hold  of 
custos  rotulorum  !  Giving  way  to  momentary  astonish- 
ment and  indignation,  he  publicly  told  the  meeting  in 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  32 — 34.  ^  Ibid.  p.  35. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD.  45 

what  manner  he  had  just  been  discharged,  and  that  his 
successor  was  to  be  old  sir  John  Savile.  "  Yet  I  could 
wish,"  he  added,  "they  who  succeed  me,  had  forborne 
this  time  this  service,  a  place  in  sooth  ill  chosen,  a  stage 
ill  prepared,  for  venting  such  poor,  vain,  insulting  humour. 
I  leave  it,"  he  concluded,  "  not  conscious  of  any  fault  in 
myself,  nor  yet  guilty  of  the  virtue  in  my  successor,  that 
should  occasion  this  removal."  ^ 

This  was  admirable  for  a  public  display.  As  soon  as 
he  had  arrived  at  Wentworth  Wood  House,  however,  he 
dispatched  the  following  letters,  one  almost  immediately 
after  the  other,  to  "the  light  honourable  sir  Richard 
Weston,  knt.,  chancellor  of  his  majesty's  exchequer  !  " 
They  fully  explain,  it  will  be  seen,  the  whole  course  of 
Wentworth's  recent  conduct.  **I  have  been  beholden 
unto  you,"  he  begins,  **  for  many  courtesies,  which  in 
your  own  particular  I  will  undoubtedly  ever  thankfully 
acknowledge.  Give  me  leave  then  to  put  you  in  remem- 
brance of  some  things  wherewith  you  formerly  have  been 
acquainted ;  as  also  to  give  you  an  account  of  some 
things  which  have  happened  since.  At  the  dissolved 
parliament  in  Oxford^  you  are  privy  how  I  was  moved 
frofn  and  in  behalf  of  the  duke  of  Buckingham,  with 
promise  of  his  good  estee^n  and  favour ;  you  are  privy  that 
my  answer  was,  I  did  honour  the  duke's  person,  that  I 
would  be  ready  to  serve  him  in  the  quality  of  an  honest 
man  and  a  gentleman;  you  are  privy,  that  the  duke  took 
this  in  good  part,  sent  me  thanks ;  as  for  respects  done 
him,  you  are  privy,  how  during  that  sitting  I  performed 
what  I  had  professed.  The  consequence  of  all  this  was 
the  making  me  sheriff  the  winter  after.  It  is  true,  the 
duke,  a  little  before  Whitsuntide  last,  at  Whitehall,  in 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  36. 


46  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

your  presence,  said,  it  was  done  without  his  grace's  know- 
ledge, that  he  was  then  in  Holland.  At  Whitehall,  Easter 
term  last,  you  brought  me  to  the  duke,  his  grace  did,  before 
you,  contract  (as  he  pleased  to  term  it)  a  friendship  with 
me,  all  former  mistakes  laid  asleep,  forgotten.  After,  I 
weitt,  at  my  coming  out  of  tow?i,  to  receive  his  commands, 
to  kiss  his  grace's  hands,  where  I  had  all  the  good  words 
and  good  usage  which  could  be  expected,  which  bred  in 
me  a  great  deal  of  content,  a  full  security.  Now  the  co7i- 
sequence  here  again  is,  that  even  yesterday  I  received  his 
majesty's  writ  for  the  discharging  me  of  the  poor  place  of 
custos  rotulorum  which  I  held  here,  whose  good  pleasure 
shall  be  cheerfully  obeyed ;  yet  I  cannot  but  observe  as 
ill  luck  of  it,  that  the  reward  of  my  long,  painful,  and 
loyal  service  to  his  majesty  in  that  place,  is  to  be  thus 
cast  off  without  any  fault  laid  to  my  charge  that  I  hear 
of,  and  that  his  grace  too  was  now  in  England.  I  have 
therefore  troubled  you  with  this  unartificial  relation  to 
show  you  the  singleness  of  my  heart,  resting  in  all 
assurance  justly  confident,  you  shall  never  find  that  I 
have  for  my  own  part  in  a  tittle  transgressed  from  what 
had  passed  betwixt  us.  All  which  I  confess,  indeed,  to 
this  bare  intent  and  purpose  and  no  other,  that  I  might 
preserve  myself  in  your  opinion  a  man  of  plainness  and 
truth.  Which  obtained  I  have  fully  my  end,  and  so  I 
rest  in  the  constant  condition  of  your  truly  affectionate 
friend  to  dispose  of,  Thomas  Wentworth."  The  cour- 
teous conclusions  of  Wentworth's  letters  have  a  signi- 
ficancy  at  times.  The  next  letter  to  Weston,  following 
up  the  purpose  of  the  last,  runs  thus  :  "  Calling  to  mind 
the  faithful  service  I  had  the  honour  to  do  his  majesty 
now  with  God,  how  graciously  he  vouchsafed  to  accept  and 
express  it  openly  and  sundry  times,  I  enjoy  within  myself 


BROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  47 

much  comfort  and  contentment.     On  the  other  side,  albeit 
therein   still    strongly   dwell    entire   intentions    (and    by 
God's  goodness  shall,  with  me  to  my  grave)  towards  1  is 
sacred  majesty  that  now  is,  yet  I  may  well  apprehend 
the  weight  of  his  indignation,  being  put  out  of  all  com- 
missions, wherein  formerly  I  had  served  and  been  trusted. 
This  makes  me  sensible  of  my  misfortune,  though  not 
conscious  of  any  inward  guilt,  which  might  occasion  it ; 
resting  infinitely  ambitious,  not  of  new  employment,  diit 
much  rather  to  live  tender  the  smile  than  the  frown  of  my 
sovereign.     In    this   strait,   therefore,   give   me    leave    to 
recommend  to  you  the  protection  of  my  innocence  ;  and 
to  beseech  you^  at  some  good  opportunity,  to  represent  unto 
his  majesty  my  tender  and  unfeigned  grief  for  his  dis- 
favour, my  fears  also  that  I  stand  before  his  justice  and 
goodness  clad  in  the  malevolent  interpretations,  and  pre- 
judiced by  the  subtle  insinuations,  of  my  adversaries  ;  and 
lastly,  my  only  and  humble  suit,  that  his  majesty  will 
princely  deign,  that  either  my  insufficiency  or  fault  may  be 
shown  me  ;  to  this  only  end,  that  if  insufficiency,  I  may 
know  where  and  how  to  improve  myself,  and  be  better 
enabled  to  present  hereafter  more  ripe  and  pleasing  fruits 
of  my  labours  in  his  service ;  if  a  fault,  that  I  may  either 
confess  my  error  and  beg  his  pardon,  or  else,  which  I 
am  most  confident  I  shall  do,  approve  myself  throughout 
an  honest  well-affected  loyal  subject,  with  full  plain  and 
upright  satisfaction  to  all  that  can,  by  the  greatest  malice 
or  disguised  untruth,  be  objected  against  me.     The  con- 
tentment of  others  in  my  actions  is  but  subordinate,  and 
consequently  neither  my  principal  study  nor  care.     Thus 
have  I  presumed  upon  you,  further  than  any  particular 
interest  of  mine  can  warrant,  out  of  a  general  belief  in 
your  wisdom   and    nobleness,  the  rather  too  because  I 


48  BROIVNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

conceive  you  can  best  witness  the  opinion^  nay  I  might  say 
the  esteem,  his  late  majesty  held  of  me.  All  which,  never- 
theless, as  in  good  manners  and  discretion  I  ought, 
I  submit  wholly  to  your  best  pleasure,  without  impor- 
tunately pressing  further  herein  than  may  stand  with  your 
conve?iiency ,  your  other  respects,  and,  however,  retain 
with  me  the  lasting  truth  of  your  honour's  most  humbly, 
most  readily  to  be  commanded,  Thomas  Wentworth."  ^ 
It  did  not  suit  with  Weston's  convenience  to  answer 
these  letters  at  the  time,  but  it  is  probable  that  no  word 
of  them  was  withheld  from  the  king.  Buckingham  was 
sUll  too  powerful  to  be  in  any  thing  gainsayed,  and  it  was 
clear  that  he  had  formed  a  violent  dislike  to  Wentworth. 
He  sought  now  to  mortify  him  as  much  as  possible 
through  the  means  of  Savile.  The  son  of  the  "  old 
knight,"  or  the  "old  cavaHer,"  as  one  of  Wentworth's 
correspondents  2  calls  him,  was  promoted  to  a  barony 
and  an  office  in  the  household.  It  is  not  difficult,  on 
mature  consideration,  to  assign  an  intelligible  reason  for 
these  proceedings  by  Buckingham,  though  at  first  they 
appear  startlingly  gratuitous.  He  had,  in  truth,  an  equal 
motive  to  be  jealous  of  Wentworth,  in  the  way  of  favour, 
as  in  that  of  opposition.  While  it  is  possible  that  he  did 
not  very  clearly  understand  the  policy  that  had  been 
shown  by  Wentworth  in  either  case,  it  is  more  than  pro- 
bable that  he  feared  to  be  undone  by  him  in  both.     In 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  34,  35. 

2  Lord  Mansfield,  who  appears  to  have  remonstrated  with  the 
duke  of  Buckingham  himself,  while  Wentworth  thus  remonstrated, 
as  it  were,  with  the  king,  respecting  the  late  proceedings,  *'  I  writ 
my  mind,"  says  Mansfield  to  Wentworth,  "at  full  to  my  lord  duke  ; 
and,  I  protest  to  God,  no  more  sparing  the  old  cavalier  or  his  nature 
than  I  would  speak  of  him  to  you,  nor  mincing  my  desires  or  my 
nature,  which  is  not  to  do  curtesies  for  injuries,"  It  is  most  probable 
that  this  was  done  at  Wentworth's  desire.     See  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  43. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD, 


49 


favour,  he  might  already  have  received  occasion  to 
suppose  Wentworth  Hkely  to  prove  a  formidable  rival, 
(not  dreaming  that  a  large  capacity  could  never  so  impose 
upon  Charles  as  a  mean  one) ;  and  in  opposition,  he  may 
still  have  thought  him  too  likely  to  be  dangerous,  for  a 
perfect  trust.  Nor  was  he  without  reason  for  suspicion, 
at  least,  on  the  latter  score.  Wandesford,  the  most 
intimate  friend  and  kinsman  of  the  quiet  sheriff,  had 
been  one  of  the  most  active  managers  of  the  impeach- 
ment in  the  last  session.  And  there  were  other  causes 
of  dread.  Wentworth  had  had  some  communication 
with  the  intriguing  archbishop  Williams,  and  worse  than 
all,  was  known  to  have  frequently  visited  the  person 
whom  the  duke  more  deeply  feared,  the  archbishop 
Abbot.  I  quote  from  Abbot's  narrative  "concerning  his 
disgrace  at  court,"  a  passage  elucidatory  on  this  point. 
In  describing  the  three  of  his  acquaintances  to  whom 
exception  had  been  taken  by  Buckingham,  ("I  know 
from  the  court,  by  a  friend,"  he  interposes,  "that  my 
house  for  a  good  space  of  time  hath  been  watched,  and  I 
marvel  that  they  have  not  rather  named  sixty  than  three,") 
the  archbishop  observes,  *'the  third  was  sir  Thomas 
Wentworth,  who  had  good  occasion  to  send  unto  me, 
and  sometimes  to  see  me,  because  we  were  joint  executors 
to  sir  George  Saviie  i,  who  married  his  sister,  and  was 
my  pupil  at  Oxford ;  to  whose  son  also  sir  Thomas 
Wentworth  and  I  were  guardians,  as  may  appear  in  the 
court  of  wards,  and  many  things  passed  between  us  in 
that  behalf;  yet,  to  my  rememberance,  I  saw  not  this 
gentleman  but  once  in  these  three  quarters  of  a  year  last 
past ;  at  which  time  he  came  to  seek  his  brother-in-law, 

1  Sir   George,    it    may  be  remarked,   was    not    a    "Yorkshire 
Saviie." 

£ 


50  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

the  lord  Clifford,  who  was  then  with  me  at  dinner  at 
I^mbeth.i 

The  second  parliament  dissolved,  privy  seals  were  now 
issuing.  Savile,  still  hot  against  his  old  opponent,  pre- 
vailed with  the  court  to  send  Wentworth  a  privy  seal. 
The  latter  received  it  while  his  recent  overtures  to  Weston 
remained  yet  unaccepted.  It  had  the  appearance  of  a 
cold  rejection  of  them.^  Still  he  hesitated  as  to  ^his 
course.  "I  have  been  here  now  some  two  or  three 
months,"  writes  lord  Baltimore  to  him,  "a  spectator  upon 
this  great  scene  of  state,  where  I  have  no  part  to  play ; 
but  you  have;  for  which  your  friends  are  sorry.  It  is 
your  enemies  that  bring  you  on  the  stage,  where  they 
have  a  hope  ti>  see  you  act  your  own  notable  harm ;  and 
therefore  keep  yourself  oif,  I  beseech  you,  et  redimas  te 
quam  queas  minimoy  ^  A  letter  from  lord  Haughton 
followed.  '*  It  was  supposed,"  he  informs  Wentworth, 
"  this  humour  of  committing  had  been  spent,  till  that  your 
antagonist  did  revive  it ;  who,  I  hear,  brags  he  hath  you 
in  a  toil  or  dilemma;  if  you  refuse^  you  shall  run  the 
fortune  of  the  other  delinquents  ;  if  you  come  in  at  the  last 
hour  into  the  vineyard,  he  hopes  it  will  lessen  you  in  the 
country."  *  Such  was  indeed  the  dilemma,  the  toil,  in 
which  Wentworth  found  himself;  —  but  he  hesitated 
still !  His  friends  now  became  extremely  anxious,  and 
letter  upon  letter  was  dispatched  to  him.  Their  general 
cry  was  one  of  dissuasion,  but  in  all  events  of  immediate 
decision.^      Lord  Clifford  wrote  several  times  in  anxious 


^  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  451.     Written  about  the  year  1628-9. 

^  In  the  Life  of  Eliot,  I  have  sufficiently  explained  the  court 
practices  at  this  time.  Privy  seals  were  generally  addressed  to  the 
"  disaffected  "  only. 

3  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  37.  *  Ibid. 

^  See  the  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  37 — 40. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  51 

solicitude.  "  Your  friends  here  do  think,  you  take  the 
best  course  in  writing  to  the  commissioners  and  coming 
up  instantly,  if  you  are  not  yet  resolved  to  lend:  but  that 
being  the  point  we  all  wish  you  would  grant  us;  for, 
without  that,  we  can  have  no  hope  of  your  safety  for 
your  health  or  person.  Then^  the  deferring  of  the  answer 
will  so  lessen  the  gift,  as  the  acceptance  of  it  would  be  but 
faint  and  cold.  Whereas,  if  you  would  now  assent  to  slip 
the  money  into  some  commissioner's  hand,  you  might 
wave  the  trouble  to  appear,  either  in  the  country  or  here. 
I  must  tell  you,  that  I  have  met  here  with  many  that  are 
persuaded  that  you  struck  a  tally  here  yourself  when  you 
were  at  London,  and  my  answer  to  such  was  ignorance. 
Another  sort  there  are,  who  inquire  much  after  your 
coming  up,  and  these  I  conceive  not  out  of  any  good 
affection,  because  some  of  them  have  relation  to  old  sir 
John."  Lord  Baltimore  wrote  more  earnestly  still.  "  If 
you  resolve  betimes  to  take  this  course,  which  I  would 
to  God  you  would,  it  may  be  yet  interpreted  obedience 
to  your  sovereign,  and  zeal  to  his  service ;  and  whatso- 
ever slackness  hath  been  in  it  hitherto  may  be  excused  by 
your  friends  here^  either  by  indisposition  of  healthy  or  some 
other  reason,  which  your  own  judgment  can  better  dictate 
unto  you  than  my  advice.  I  should  say  much  more  to 
you  were  you  here,  which  is  not  fit  for  paper ;  but  never 
put  off  the  matter  to  your  appearance  here,  for  God's 
sake ;  but  send  your  money  in  to  the  collectors  in  the 
country  without  more  ado.  Your  friends  are  much  per- 
plexed and  in  fear  of  you,  and  none  more  than  /." 
Wentworth,  thus  driven,  made  up  his  mind,  at  last,  to 
refuse  to  lend.  He  could  no  longer  conceal  from  himself 
that  a  crisis  had  arrived,  and  he  was  not  ignorant  of  a 
means  (though  he  might  have  hitherto  wished  to  avoid 


52  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

some  incidents  attached  to  it,)  that  would  possibly  force 
from  it  a  perfect  triumph.  He  refused  the  loan,  and  was 
summoned  to  the  council  table  at  London.  He  did  not 
omit  an  opportunity  to  his  main  purpose  that  seemed 
to  offer  itself  here.  Wandesford  describes  it  in  a  letter 
written  to  him  after  his  committal  to  the  Marshalsea. 
*'  Now  that  you  are  reckoned  with  the  afflicted,  a  man 
may  pray  safely  for  your  deliverance  ;  and,  seeing  it 
would  be  no  better,  I  am  glad  you  come  in  so  fair,  and 
so  handsomely  upon  the  point  itself.  Sir  Arthur  tells 
pie,  the  president  reports  well  of  your  carriage  at  the  table. 
I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  of  you  in  your  present  confine- 
ment, lest  that  prison  and  this  season  give  you  a 
nightcap  in  earnest."^ 

He  only  remained  six  weeks  in  the  Marshalsea.  He 
was  then  removed  to  Dartford  in  Kent,  where,  RadcHffe 
observes,  he  "  was  not  to  go  above  two  miles  from  that 
town."  This  was  an  easy  imprisonment,  and,  easy  as 
it  was,  was  still  more  alleviated  by  the  presence  of  the 
lady  Arabella.  She  had  already  presented  him  with  a 
boy,  and,  during  his  present  restriction,  gave  birth  to 
a  girl.  The  letters  of  her  brother,  Denzil  Hollis,  written 
at  this  period  to  Wentworth,  are  very  delightful  in  many 
respects  2,  and,  in  the  disastrous  news  of  the  court  schemes 
which  they  supplied,  may  have  served  to  strengthen  his 
present  patriotic  purposes.  "  I  am  most  glad,"  he  writes, 
"to  hear  my  sister  is  in  so  fair  a  way  of  recovering 
strength,  since  she  last  made  you  the  second  time  a 
father :  I  wish  she  may  many  times  do  it  to  both  your 
comforts,  and  every  time  still  with  more  comfort  than  the 
former ;   that  yet  in  our  private  respects  we  may  have 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  39. 

^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  40 — 42. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  53 

some  cause  of  joy,  since  the  public  affords  us  so  little ; 
for  you  see  how  that  goes  on  de  mal  en  pis,  as  the  French 
say."  He  then  gives  a  vivid  account  of  the  melancholy 
Isle  of  Rhee  expedition,  and  describing  the  numbers  that 
had  been  lost,  pleasantly  concludes  thus  : — "  In  the 
mean  time  we  have  lost  many  good  men,  yet  let  us  make 
the  best  of  it,  and,  I  hope,  it  will  make  our  wives,  instead 
of  bearing  wenches,  which  of  late  you  say  they  have  been 
much  given  to,  fall  to  bringing  of  boys,  young  soldiers 
for  the  reincrew  of  our  army  :  and  I  know  no  reason  but 
mine  should  begin ;  and  she  had  as  good  do  it  at  first, 
for  if  she  do  not,  at  her  peril,  I  hope  to  make  her  go 
again  for  it ;  and  when  my  sister  Arabella  shall  see  how 
mine  is  served,  I  hope  she  will  take  fair  warning,  and  do 
as  she  should  do ;  but  I  fear  not  her  so  much,  for  she 
has  begun  pretty  well  already.  And  now  I  will  close  my 
letter  as  you  do  yours  (with  thanks  by  the  way  for  it,  as 
also  for  the  whole  letter),  heartily  praying  she  may  so 
continue,  to  make  you  a  glad  father  of  many  goodly  and 
godly  boys, — and  some  wenches  among,  lest  the  seventh 
work  miracles,  as  old  wives  will  tell  us, — and  herself  to 
be  a  joyful  and  good  mother,  as  I  know  she  is  a  good 
and  loving  wife,  and  long  may  she  so  be  to  your  comfort 
and  her  own." 

Wentworth  and  the  other  recusants  released,  they  met, 
under  the  circumstances  of  extreme  excitement  which 
have  been  already  described,  in  the  famous  third  parlia- 
ment. It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  here,  that  the 
under  current  of  intrigue  which  had  been  set  in  motion 
by  Wentworth,  was  only  known  to  his  convenient  friend 
Wandesford.  It  is  not  likely,  from  the  tone  of  Hollis's 
letters,  that  he  had  ever  been  made  acquainted  with  it. 
For  the  rest  of  the  patriots,  with  the  exception  of  the 


54  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

keen-sighted  Eliot,  they  all  held  well  with  Wentworth,  as 
a  great  and  valuable  supporter  of  the  popular  cause.  He 
had  long  been  known  for  his  talents ;  their  outburst  in 
behalf  of  liberal  principles  had  long,  by  a  certain  section 
of  the  leaders,  been  anxiously  watched  for ;  and  now, 
disappointing  none,  even  of  those  who  had  known  them 
longest,  and  looked  for  them  most  impatiently,  they  burst 
forth  amidst  the  delighted  cheers  of  the  house,  and  with 
a  startling  effect  upon  the  court. 

On  the  discussion  of  the  general  question  of  griev- 
ances, Wentworth  rose.  "  May  this  day's  resolution,"  he 
solemnly  began,  "be  as  happy,  as  I  conceive  the  pro- 
position which  now  moves  me  to  rise,  to  be  seasonable 
and  necessary  !  For  whether  we  shall  look  upon  the 
king  or  his  people,  it  did  never  more  behove  this  great 
physician,  the  parliament,  to  effect  a  true  consent  amongst 
the  parties  than  now.  This  debate  carries  with  it  a 
double  aspect;  towards  the  sovereign,  and  towards  the 
subject;  though  both  be  innocent,  yet  both  are  injured; 
both  to  be  cured.  In  the  representation  of  injuries  I 
shall  crave  your  attention ;  in  the  cure,  I  shall  beseech 
your  equal  cares,  and  better  judgments.  In  the  greatest 
humility  I  speak  it,  these  illegal  ways  are  punishments 
and  marks  of  indignation.  The  raising  of  money  by 
loans ;  strengthened  by  commission,  with  unheard-of 
instructions  ;  the  billeting  of  soldiers  by  the  lieutenants ; 
— have  been  as  if  they  could  have  persuaded  Christian 
princes,  nay  worlds,  that  the  right  of  empire  was  to  take 
away  goods  by  strong  hand  ;  and  they  have  endeavoured, 
as  far  as  was  possible  for  them,  to  do  it.  This  hath  not 
been  done  by  the  king  (under  the  pleasing  shade  of  whose 
crown,  I  hope  we  shall  ever  gather  the  fruits  of  justice), 
but  by  projectors;  these  have  extended  the  prerogative 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  55 

of  the  king  beyond  its  just  limits,  so  as  to  niar  the  sweet 
harmony  of  the  whole." 

Wentworth  then  burst  suddenly,  and  with  great  drama- 
tic effect,  (he  studied  this  at  all  times)  into  the  following 
rapid  and  passionate  invective.  "  They  have  rent  from 
us  the  light  of  our  eyes !  enforced  companies  of  guests 
worse  than  the  ordinances  of  France !  vitiated  our  wives 
and  daughters  before  our  faces !  brought  the  crown  to 
greater  want  than  ever  it  was,  by  anticipating  the  revenue  ; 
— and  can  the  shepherd  be  thus  smitten,  and  the  flock 
not  be  scattered  ?  They  have  introduced  a  privy  council, 
ravishing,  at  once,  the  spheres  of  all  ancient  government ! 
imprisoning  us  without  bail  or  bond  !  They  have  taken 
from  us — what  shall  I  say  ?  Indeed  what  have  they 
left  us  ?  They  have  taken  from  us  all  means  of  supplying 
the  king,  and  ingratiating  ourselves  with  him,  by  tearing 
up  the  roots  of  all  property;  which,  if  they  be  not 
seasonably  set  again  into  the  ground  by  his  majesty's 
hand,  we  shall  have,  instead  of  beauty,  baldness  !  " 

For  this,  in  the  noblest  language,  the  orator  proposed 
his  remedy.  "  By  one  and  the  same  thing  hath  the  king 
and  people  been  hurt,  and  by  the  same  must  they  be 
cured  : — to  vindicate — what  ?  New  things  ?  No  !  our 
ancient,  lawful,  and  vital  liberties !  by  reinforcing  of  the 
ancient  laws  made  by  our  ancestors ;  by  setting  such  a 
stamp  upon  them,  as  no  licentious  spirit  shall  dare  here- 
after to  enter  upon  them.  And  shall  we  think  this  a  way 
to  break  a  parliament  ?  No  ;  our  desires  are  modest  and 
just.  I  speak  truly,  both  for  the  interest  of  the  king 
and  people.  If  we  enjoy  not  these,  it  will  be  impossible 
to  relieve  him :  therefore  let  us  never  fear  but  they  will 
be  accepted  by  his  goodness.  Wherefore  I  shall  descend 
to  my  motion,  which  consists  of  four  parts  :  two  of  which 


56  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

have  relation  to  the  persons,  and  two  to  the  property 
of  our  goods.  I  St.  For  our  persons,  the  freedom  of 
them  from  imprisonment,  and  from  employments  abroad, 
against  our  own  consents,  contrary  to  the  ancient  customs 
of  this  kingdom.  2d.  For  our  goods,  that  no  levies  may 
be  made,  but  by  parliament  \  and  no  billeting  of  soldiers. 
It  is  most  necessary  that  these  be  resolved,  and  that  the 
subjects  may  be  secured  in  both.  Then,  for  the  manner, 
it  will  be  fit  to  determine  it  by  a  grand  committee."  ^ 

Wentworth  sustained,  through  the  short  but  important 
proceedings  of  the  session,  the  reputation  he  had  achieved 
by  this  speech  in  the  house  and  the  country.  He  spoke 
on  all  the  great  questions  and  emergencies  that  occurred. 
Only  two  of  his  speeches,  however,  remain  in  any  com- 
pleteness. The  second  was  delivered  on  one  of  secretary 
Cooke's  pressing  applications  for  the  subsidies.  "  I  can- 
not help  lamenting,"  he  said,  "  the  unlawful  courses  and 
slights,  for  which  the  only  excuse  is  necessity.  We  are 
required  to  give ;  but  before  we  can  resolve  to  give,  it 
must  be  determined  what  we  have  to  give.  What  heavy 
fogs  have  of  late  darkened  our  hemisphere,  and  yet  hang 
over  us,  portending  our  ruin,  none  is  so  weak  as  to  be 
ignorant  of!  What  unsteady  courses  to  dispel  these 
mists,  have  been  pursued,  and  thereby  raised  near  us 
great  storms,  I  take  no  pleasure  to  remember, — yet,  in 
all  bodies  diseased,  the  knowledge  precedes  the  cure.  I 
will  shortly  tell  the  principals;  next  their  remedies.  I 
must  reduce  them  into  two  heads :  i.  whereby  our 
persons  have  been  injured ;  2.  whereby  our  estates  have 
suffered." 

"  Our  persons  have  been  injured,"  continued  Wentworth 

1  From  a  MS.  in  the  Harleian  Library.     See  Pari.  Hist.  vol.  vii. 
pp.  369—371. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  57 

more  earnestly,  "both  by  imprisonment  without  law — 
nay,  against  law,  boundless  and  without  bank ! — and  by 
being  designed  to  some  office,  charge,  and  employment, 
foreign  or  domestic,  as  a  brand  of  infamy  and  mark  of 
disgrace.  Oh  !  Mr.  Speaker,  when  it  may  not  be  safe  to 
deny  payments  upon  unjust  exactions,  but  we  must  go  to 
prison  for  it, — nor  in  this  place,  to  speak  our  consciences, 
but  we  must  be  stamped  to  unwilling  and  unfitting 
employments  !  Our  estates  have  been  racked  two  ways ; 
one  in  the  loan,  wherein  five  subsidies  were  exacted  ;  and 
that  by  commission  of  men  of  quahty,  and  instructions  to 
prosecute  the  same,  with  an  asperity  which  no  times  can 
parallel !  And  hence  the  other  consideration,  of  the 
projectors  and  executioners  of  it.  Nay,  this  was  not  all, 
but  ministers,  in  their  pulpits,  have  preached  it  as  gospel, 
and  damned  the  refusers  of  it — so  then  we  are  already 
doomed  to  damnation  ! 

"  Let  no  man,"  he  said,  in  conclusion,  after  proposing 
a  committee  for  grievances,  "judge  this  way  a  break-neck 
of  parliaments  :  but  a  way  of  honour  to  the  king,  nay  of 
profit ;  for  besides  the  supply  which  we  shall  readily  give 
him,  suitable  to  his  occasions,  we  give  him  our  hearts. 
Our  hearts^  Mr.  Speaker,  a  gift  that  God  calls  for^  and 
fit  for  a  king  r'^ 

There  may  have  been  more  passion  than  logic  in  these 
speeches,  but  they  had  their  effect.  The  court  now  saw 
more  thoroughly  the  man  they  had  discarded,  and  Weston 
hastened  to  answer  his  last  letter  !  He  reasoned  here  not 
unjustly — that  it  could  scarcely  be  too  late  at  any  time 
to  answer  a  letter,  which  in  its  terms  so  clearly  proved 
the  non-existence  of  any  lasting  obstacle,  such  as  a  firm 
point  of  principle.  The  present  conduct  of  Wentworth, 
1  Pari.  Hist.,  vol.  vii.  p.  440. 


58  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

to  Weston  at  least,  could  appear  no  other  than  a  tempo- 
rary resource.  Even  Buckingham's  continued  objections 
were  therefore  set  aside,  and,  before  the  conclusion  of 
the  session,  a  negotiation  with  Wentworth  had  opened; 
— nay,  almost  before  the  burning  words  which  have  just 
been  transcribed,  had  cooled  from  off  the  lips  of  the 
speaker,  a  transfer  of  his  services  to  the  court  was  decided 
on  !  We  have  indisputable  evidence,  that,  on  the  28th  of 
May,  Finch  was  acting  as  a  go-between.^  On  the  26th 
of  June  the  parliament  was  prorogued.  On  the  14th  of 
July  sir  Thomas  Wentworth  was  created  Baron  Went- 
worth, and  called  to  the  privy  council.  It  is  clear, 
however,  that  at  the  same  time  he  had  stipulated  to  be 
made  a  viscount,  and  lord  president  of  the  North  2,  but 
this  apparently  could  not  be  done,  till  the  death  of 
Buckingham  had  removed  a  still  lingering  obstacle.^ 

1  have  thus  endeavoured  to  trace  at  greater  length, 
and  with  greater  exactness  than  has  been  attempted 
hitherto,  the  opening  passages   in   the  political   history 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  46. 
-  See  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  390. 

2  A  passage  in  Rush  worth  (vol.  viii.  p.  768.)  is  corroborative  of 
the  view  which  I  have  presented  of  Wentworth's  public  conduct. 
The  collector  professes  to  give  all  those  parliamentary  speeches  "in 
which  my  lord  of  Strafford  so  discovered  his  wit  and  temper,  that 
the  court  took  particular  notice  of  him,"  and  gives  only  the  speeches 
that  were  delivered  in  this  third  parliament.  It  is  clear  that  he  had 
not  rendered  himself  at  all  formidable  before.  Rushworth,  indeed, 
subsequently  sets  this  at  rest,  by  adding, — "  Now  he  began  to  be 
more  generally  taken  notice  of  by  all  men,  and  his  fame  to  spread 
abroad,  where  public  affairs,  and  the  criticisms  of  the  times,  were 
discoursed  by  the  most  refined  judgments  ;  those  who  were  infected 
with  popularity  flattering  themselves  that  he  was  inclined  to  support 
their  inclination,  and  would  prove  a  champion  on  that  account  ;  but 
such  discourse,  as  it  endeared  him  to  his  country,  so  it  begot  to  him 
an  interest  in  the  bosom  of  his  prince,  who  (having  a  discerning 
judgment  of  men)  quickly  made  his  observation  of  Wentworth's,  that 
he  was  a  person  framed  for  great  affairs,  and  fit  to  be  near  his  royal 
person  and  councils." 


BROWNIACS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  59 

of  this  extraordinary  man.  The  common  and  vulgar 
account  given  by  Heylin  ^  has  been,  it  is  believed,  ex- 
ploded, along  with  that  of  the  no  less  vulgar  Hacket.^ 
All  Wentworth's  movements  in  the  path  which  has  been 
followed,  appear  to  me  to  be  perfectly  natural  and  intel- 
ligible, if  his  true  character  is  kept  in  view.  From  the 
very  intensity  of  the  aristocratic  principle  within  him, 
arose  his  hesitation  in  espousing  at  once  the  interests  of 
the  court.  This,  justly  and  carefully  considered,  will  be 
found  the  solution  of  his  reluctant  advances,  and  still  more 
reluctant  retreats.  The  intervention  of  a  favourite  was 
hardly  supportable  by  one  whose  ambition,  as  he  felt 
obliged  to  confess  to  himself  even  then,  would  be  satisfied 
with  nothing  short  of  the  dignity  of  becoming  "  the  king's 
mistress,  to  be  cherished  and  courted  by  none  but 
himself."  He  was  to  be  understood,  and  then  invited, — 
rather  than  forced  to  an  expHcit  declaration,  and  then 
only  accepted.  The  purpose  of  the  alternating  attraction 
and  repulsion  of  his  proceedings,  such  as  I  have  de- 
scribed them,  submissive  and  refractory,  might  have  been 
obvious,  indeed,  to  an  obtuser  perception  than  Buck- 
ingham's, but  that  mediocrity  will  always  find  its  little 
account  in  crushing  rather  than  winning  over  genius,  and 
is  rendered  almost  as  uncomfortable  by  an  uncongenial 
coadjutor  as  by  a  strenuous  opponent.  Wentworth's 
conduct,  at  the  last,  was  forced  upon  him  by  circum- 
stances : — but  his  energetic  support  of  the  Petition  of 
Rights  was  only  the  completion  of  a  series  of  hints,  all  of 
which  had  been  more  or  less  intelligible ;  and,  even  now, 
unwillingly  understood  as  this  was  by  the  minister,  it  was 
yet  more  reluctantly  acted  upon,  for  by  Buckingham's 
death  alone,  as  we  are  informed,  the  *' great  bar"  to 
^  Life  of  Laud,  p.  194.  2  Scrinia  Reserata. 


6o  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Wentworth's  advancement  was  removed. ^  It  may  be 
added,  that,  even  in  all  these  circumstances,  when  many- 
steps  were  forced  upon  him,  which  his  proud  spirit  but 
poorly  submitted  to,  and  wronged  itself  in  submitting  to, 
it  is  yet  possible  to  perceive  a  quality  in  his  nature  which 
was  afterwards  more  fully  developed.  He  was  possessed 
with  a  rooted  aversion,  from  the  first,  to  the  court  flies 
that  buzzed  around  the  monarch,  and  as  little  inclined  to 
suffer  their  good  offices  as  to  deprecate  their  hostility. 
The  receipt,  shortly  after  this,  of  divers  ill-spelt  and 
solemn  sillinesses  from  the  king,  seems  to  have  occasioned 
a  deep  and  enduring  gratitude  in  him,  for  the  dispensing 
with  a  medium  that  had  annoyed  him.  "I  do  with 
infinite  sense,"  writes  he,  "consider  your  majesty's  great 
goodness,  not  only  most  graciously  approvmg  of  that 
address  of  mine  immediately  to  yourself,  but  allowing 
it  unto  me  hereafter,  which  I  shall  rest  myself  upon  as 
my  greatest  support  on  earth,  and  make  bold  to  practise, 
yet  I  trust  without  importunity  or  sauciness."  The  few 
attempts  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  queen,  which  were 
ultimately  forced  on  Wentworth  by  his  declining  fortunes, 
were  attended  with  but  faint  success,  and  he  appears  to 
have  impressed  her,  on  the  whole,  with  little  beyond  the 
prettiness  of  his  hands,  which  she  allowed  to  be  "  the 
finest  in  the  world  "  ^ — to  the  prejudice  of  his  head,  which 
she  was  not  so  inclined  to  preserve. 

In  one  word,  what  it  is  desired  to  impress  upon  the 
reader,  before  the  delineation  of  Wentworth  in  his  after 
years,  is  this — that  he  was  consistent  to  himself  through- 

^  Biog.  Britt.,  vol.  vii.  p.  4179. 

^  This  is  told  us  by  madame  de  Motteville,  who  repeats  what 
Henrietta  had  said  to  her : — "  II  etait  laid,  mais  assez  agreable  de 
sa  personne  ;  et  la  reine,  me  contant  toutes  ces  choses,  s'arreta  pour 
me  dire  qu'il  avait  les  plus  belles  mains  du  monde." 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  6l 

out  I  have  always  considered  that  much  good  wrath 
is  thrown  away  upon  what  is  usually  called  '*  apos- 
tacy."  In  the  majority  of  cases,  if  the  circumstances  are 
thoroughly  examined,  it  will  be  found  that  there  has 
been  "no  such  thing."  The  position  on  which  the 
acute  Roman  thought  fit  to  base  his  whole  theory  of 
Esthetics — 

**  Humano  capiti  cervicem  pictor  equinam 
Jungere  si  velit,  et  varias  inducere  plumas, 
Undique  collatis  membris,  ut  turpiter  atram 
Desinat  in  pi  seem  mulier  formosa  superne, 
Spectatum  admissi  risum  teneatis,  amici  ?  "  &c. 

— is  of  far  wider  application  than  to  the  exigencies  of 
an  art  of  poetry ;  and  those  who  carry  their  researches 
into  the  moral  nature  of  mankind,  cannot  do  better  than 
impress  upon  their  minds,  at  the  outset,  that  in  the 
regions  they  explore,  they  are  to  expect  no  monsters — • 
no  essentially  discordant  termination  to  any  "  mulier 
formosa  superne.  "  Infinitely  and  distinctly  various  as 
appear  the  shifting  hues  of  our  common  nature  when 
subjected  to  the  prism  of  circumstance,  each  ray  into 
which  it  is  broken  is  no  less  in  itself  a  primitive  colour, 
susceptible,  indeed,  of  vast  modification,  but  incapable 
of  further  division.  Indolence,  however,  in  its  delight 
for  broad  classifications,  finds  its  account  in  overlooking 
this;  and  among  the  results,  none  is  more  conspicuous 
than  the  long  list  of  apostates  with  which  history  fur- 
nishes us.  It  is  very  true,  it  may  be  admitted,  that  when 
we  are  informed  by  an  old  chronicler  that,  "  at  this  time, 
Ezzelin  changed  totally  his  disposition," — or  by  a  modern 
biographer  that,  "  at  such  a  period,  Tiberius  first  became 
a  wicked  prince," — we  examine  too  curiously  if  we  con- 
sider such  information  as  in  reality  regarding  other  than 


62  BROWNING'S  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD. 

the  act  done,  and  the  popular  inference  recorded ;  beyond 
which  it  was  no  part  of  the  writer  to  inquire.  But  such 
historians  as  these  value  themselves  materially  on  their 
dispensation  of  good  or  evil  fame  ;  and  as  the  "  complete 
change,"  so  dramatically  recounted,  has  commonly  no 
mean  influence  on  the  nature  of  their  award,  the  observ- 
ations I  have  made  may  be  of  service  to  the  just  estimate 
of  their  more  sweeping  conclusions. 

Against  all  such  conclusions  I  earnestly  protest  in  the 
case  of  the  remarkable  personage  whose  ill-fated  career 
we  are  now  retracing.  Let  him  be  judged  sternly,  but 
in  no  unphilosophic  spirit.  In  turning  from  the  bright 
band  of  patriot  brothers  to  the  solitary  Strafford — "  a  star 
which  dwelt  apart " — we  have  to  contemplate  no  ex- 
tinguished splendour,  razed  and  blotted  from  the  book 
of  life.  Lustrous,  indeed,  as  was  the  gathering  of  the 
lights  in  the  political  heaven  of  this  great  time,  even  that 
radiant  cluster  might  have  exulted  in  the  accession  of  the 
"comet  beautiful  and  fierce,"  which  tarried  a  while 
within  its  limits  ere  it  "dashed  athwart  with  train  of 
flame."  But  it  was  governed  by  other  laws  than  were 
owned  by  its  golden  associates,  and — impelled  by  a 
contrary,  yet  no  less  irresistible  force,  than  that  which 
restrained  them  within  their  eternal  orbits — it  left  them, 
never  to  "float  into  that  azure  heaven  again." 

Before  attending  Wentworth  to  his  presidency  in  the 
North,  we  may  stop  to  consider  one  of  those  grand 
features  in  his  character,  on  which  many  subordinate 
considerations  depend,  and  a  proper  understanding  of 
which  ought  to  be  brought,  as  a  first  requisite,  to  the  just 
observation  of  his  measures. 

I  cannot  believe  Wentworth  to  have  been  the  vain 
man  popular  opinion  has  pronounced  him,  nor  discover 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  63 

in  him  any  of  that  overweening  and  unwarranted  self- 
confidence,  which  friends  no  less  than  foes  have  laid  to 
his  charge.  An  arrogance,  based  on  the  supposed  pos- 
session of  pre-eminent  qualities  which  have  no  existence, 
is  one  thing ;  and  the  calm  perception  of  an  undoubted 
superiority,  is  another.  Wentworth,  indeed,  "stood  hke 
a  tower" — but  that  unshaken  confidence  did  not  "sud- 
denly scale  the  light."  Its  stately  proportions  were 
slowly  evolved ;  its  eventual  elevation  unavoidable,  and 
amply  vindicated.  We  have  met  with  no  evidences  of  a 
refractory  or  self-sufficient  disposition  in  the  youth  of 
Wentworth  ?  His  studies  at  Cambridge  had  a  prosperous 
issue,  and  he  ever  remembered  his  college  life  with 
affection.  "  I  am  sorry  to  speak  it,  but  truth  will  out," 
writes  he  to  Laud  concerning  an  episcopal  delinquent, 
"  this  Bishop  is  a  St.  John's  man — of  Oxford,  I  mean,  not 
Cambridge ;  our  Cambridge  panniers  never  brought  such 
a  fairing  to  the  market."  ^     His  deep  esteem  for  his  tutor, 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  189.  Laud  makes  merry  upon  this 
happy  phrase  of  the  lord  deputy's.  The  passages  are  characteristic 
of  the  correspondence,  and  therefore  worth  quoting.  "  And  so  your 
Lordship,"  he  writes,  "  is  very  sorry  to  tell  the  truth,  but  only  that 
it  will  out.  A  St.  John's  man  you  say  he  is,  and  of  Oxford— your 
Cambridge  panniers  never  brought  such  a  fairing  to  the  market. 
Yes,  my  good  lord,  but  it  hath  ;  for  what  say  you  of  dean  Palmer  ? 
Who,  besides  his  other  virtues,  sold  all  the  lead  off  from  the  church 
at  Peterburgh  ;  yet  he  was  brought  in  your  Cambridge  panniers  ; 
and  so  was  bishop  Rowland  too,  who  used  that  bishoprick,  as  well 
as  he  did  the  deanary.  I  must  confess  this  man's  baseness  hath  not 
many  fellows,  but  his  bribery  may  have  store.  And  I  pray,  is  that 
ever  a  whit  the  less  fault,  because  it  is  gentleman-like  for  hundreds 
and  thousands  ?  Whereas  this  man  deals  for  twenty  shillings  and 
less.  I  hope  you  will  not  say  so,  and  if  you  do  not,  then  1  pray 
examine  your  Cambridge  panniers  again,  for  some  say  such  may  be 
found  there,  but  I  for  my  part  will  not  believe  it,  unless  your  lord- 
ship make  me,"  Wentworth  appears  to  have  contested  this  point 
in  Laud's  own  humour.  The  bishop  retorts  by  asking  him  what  his 
*'Jonnism,"  means.  "Now  you  are  merry  again.  God  hold  it. 
And  what  ?  Dr.  Palmer  acted  like  a  king  ?  Be  it  so.  But  he  was 
another  card  in  the  pack.     As   for  bishop   Howland,   you  never 


64  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Greenwood,  reflects  honour  on  both  parties.  I  have  said 
that  it  was  originated  by  good  services  performed,  and 
so,  perhaps,  it  is  necessary  to  limit  all  Strafford's  likings 
— all,  except  the  fatal  one  which  cost  him  life,  his  liking 
for  the  weak  and  unworthy  king,  which  had  its  origin  in 
that  abstract  veneration  for  power,  which  (or  rather,  as 
he  afterwards  too  late  discovered,  the  semblance  of  which) 
we  have  just  seen  him  by  some  practices  beneath  his 
nature,  climbing  up  to,  and  in  the  exercise  of  which,  we 
are  to  view  him  hereafter.  But  his  esteem  for  Green- 
wood, whatever  its  origin,  was  not  to  have  been  provoked 
by  truckling  sycophancy.  Nothing  of  that  sort  would 
have  succeeded  in  impressing  its  object  with  so  profound 
a  respect  as  dictates  the  following  paragraph  in  an 
interesting  letter  to  his  nephew  and  ward,  sir  W.  Savile. 
*'  In  these,  and  all  things  else,  you  shall  do  passing  well 
to  consult  Mr.  Greenwood,  who  hath  seen  much,  is  very 
well  able  to  judge,  and  certainly  most  faithful  to  you.  If 
you  use  him  not  most  respectively,  you  deal  extreme 
ungrateful  with  him,  and  ill  for  yourself.  He  was  the 
man  your  father  loved  and  trusted  above  all  men,  and 
did  as  faithfully  discharge  the  trust  reposed  in  him,  as 
ever  in  my  time  I  knew  any  man  do  for  his  dead  friend, 
taking  excessive  pains  in  settling  your  estate  with  all 
possible  cheerfulness,  without  charge  to  you  at  all.     His 


heard  of  him.  What?  Nor  of  Jeames  his  wife  neither?  Good 
Lord,  how  ignorant  you  can  be  when  you  list.  Yea  but  you  have 
taken  St.  John's  Ox.  Flagrante  crimine,  and  I  put  you  to  your 
memory.  Is  it  so  ?  Come  on  then  :  you  know  there  is  a  cause  in 
the  Star-Chamber  ;  some  were  to  answer,  and  they  brought  their 
answers  ready  written.  If  the  bishop  of  Lincoln  sent  them  ready 
for  his  turn,  hath  he  not  an  excellent  forge?  What  if  this  appear  ? 
I  hope  you  will  not  then  say  I  put  you  to  your  memory.  'Tis  now 
under  examination,  and  is  not  this  if,  &c.  flagrante  crimine  ?  Go 
brag  now." 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  65 

advice  will  be  always  upright,  and  you  may  safely  pour 
your  secrets  into  him,  which,  by  that  time  you  have 
conversed  a  little  more  abroad  in  the  world,  you  will  find 
to  be  the  greatest  and  noblest  treasure  this  world  can 
make  any  man  owner  of;  and  I  protest  to  God,  were  I 
in  your  place,  I  would  think  him  the  greatest  and  best 
riches  I  did  or  could  possess."  ^  In  the  same  letter, 
Wentworth  assures  this  youth  —  "  you  cannot  consider 
yourself,  and  advise  and  debate  your  actions  with  your 
friends  too  much ;  and,  till  such  time  as  experience  hath 
ripened  your  judgment,  it  shall  be  great  wisdom  and 
advantage  to  distrust  yourself,  and  to  fortify  your  youth 
by  the  counsel  of  your  more  aged  friends,  before  you 
undertake  anything  of  consequence.  It  was  the  course 
that  I  governed  myself  by  after  my  father's  death,  with 
great  advantage  to  myself  and  affairs ;  and  yet  my  breed- 
ing abroad  had  shown  me  more  of  the  world  than  yours 
hath  done,  and  I  had  natural  reason  like  other  men ; 
only  I  confess  I  did  in  all  things  distrust  myself,  wherein 
you  shall  do,  as  I  said,  extremely  well,  if  you  do  so 
too."  2     There  is  no  self-sufficiency  here  ! 

Wentworth's  method  of  study  has  been  transmitted  to 
us  by  sir  George  Radcliffe,  and  I  quote  it  in  strong 
corroboration  of  the  view  which  has  been  urged.  "  He 
writ,"  Radcliffe  assures  us,  "as  well  as  he  spoke:  this 
perfection  he  attained,  first,  by  reading  well  penned 
authors  in  French,  English,  and  Latin,  and  observing 
their  expressions  ;  secondly,  by  hearing  of  eloquent  men, 
which  he  did  diligently  in  their  sermons  and  publick 
speeches ;  thirdly,  by  a  very  great  care  and  industry, 
which  he  used  when  he  was  young,  in  penning  his  epistles 

^  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  170. 
2  Ibid.  p.  169. 


66  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

and  missives  of  what  subject  soever;  but  above  all,  he 
had  a  natural  quickness  of  wit  and  fancy,  with  great 
clearness  of  judgement,  and  much  practice,  without  which 
his  other  helps,  of  reading  and  hearing,  would  not  have 
brought  him  to  that  great  perfection  to  which  he  attained. 
I  learned  one  rule  of  him,  which  I  think  worthy  to  be 
remembered  :  when  he  met  with  a  well  penned  oration  or 
tract  upon  any  subject  or  question,  he  framed  a  speech  upon 
the  same  argument,  inventing  and  disposing  what  seemed 
jit  to  be  said  upon  that  subject,  before  he  read  the  book  ; 
then  reading  the  book,  compare  his  own  with  the  author, 
and  note  his  own  defects,  and  the  author's  art  and  fulness  ; 
whereby  he  observed  all  that  was  in  the  author  more 
strictly,  and  might  better  judge  of  his  own  wants  to 
supply  them."  ^  Now  this  early  habit  of  confronting,  so 
to  speak,  the  full  grown  wits  of  other  men — of  satisfy- 
ing himself  of  his  own  precise  intellectual  height  by 
thoroughly  scanning  the  acknowledged  stature  of  the 
world's  giants — is  as  much  removed  from  a  rash  assump- 
tion as  from  the  nervous  apprehension  of  mediocrity. 

Wentworth's  temper  was  passionate ;  and  it  is  curious 
and  instructive,  in  the  present  view  of  his  character,  to 
mark  the  steps  he  took  in  relation  to  this.  I  have 
already  spoken  of  his  extreme  cautiousness;  of  the 
select  council  that  canvassed  his  business,  suggested  his 
measures,  and  revised  his  correspondence ;  of  his  defer- 
ence to  advice,  and  indeed,  submission  to  reproof,  from 
his  assured  friends.  "  He  was  naturally  exceeding 
choleric,"  says  sir  George  Radcliffe,  '*  an  infirmity  with 
which  he  had  great  wrestlings;  and  though  he  kept  a 
watchfulness  over  himself  concerning  it,  yet  it  could  not 
be  so  prevented,  but  sometimes  upon  sudden  occasions 
■^  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  435. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  67 

it  would  break.  He  had  sundry  friends  that  often  ad- 
monished him  of  it ;  and  he  had  the  great  prudence  to 
take  in  good  part  such  admonitions  :  nay,  I  can  say  that 
I,  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends,  never  gained  more 
upon  his  trust  and  affection,  than  by  this  freedom  with 
him,  in  telHng  him  of  his  weaknesses.  For  he  was  a  man 
and  not  an  angel,  yet  such  a  man  as  made  a  conscience 
of  his  ways,  and  did  endeavour  to  grow  in  virtue  and 
victory  over  himself,  and  made  good  progress  accord- 
ingly." This  "good  progress"  brought  him  eventually 
to  a  very  efficient  self  control.  In  cases  where  he  would 
seem  to  have  exceeded  it,  and  to  have  been  transported 
beyond  decency  and  prudence,  it  would  be  hasty  to 
assume,  as  Clarendon  and  other  writers  have  done,  that 
it  was  in  mere  satisfaction  of  his  will.  These  writers,  it 
will  not  be  difficult  to  show,  have  not  that  excuse  for  the 
failure  of  their  principles  in  Wentworth's  person.  The 
truth  was  that,  as  in  the  case  of  Napoleon  and  other  great 
masters  of  the  despotic  art,  anger  was  one  of  the  instru- 
ments of  his  policy.  He  came  to  know  when  to  be  in  a 
passion,  and  flew  into  a  passion  accordingly.  "You  gave 
me  a  good  lesson  to  be  patient,"  he  writes  to  old  secretary 
Cooke,  "and  indeed  my  years  and  natural  inclinations 
give  me  heat  more  than  enough,  which  however,  I  trust, 
more  experience  shall  cool,  and  a  watch  over  myself  in 
time  altogether  overcome ;  in  the  mean  space,  in  this  at 
least  it  will  set  forth  itself  more  pardonable,  because  my 
earnestness  shall  ever  be  for  the  honour,  justice,  and 
profit  of  my  master ;  and  //  is  not  always  anger,  but  the 
misapplying  of  it,  that  is  the  vice  so  blameable,  and  of 
disadvantage  to  those  that  let  themselves  loose  thereunto.^''  ^ 
In  the  same  despatch  to  the  secretary  from  which  I 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  87. 


68  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

have  taken  the  above,  he  had  observed,  immediately 
before, — "  Nor  is  it  one  of  my  least  comforts  that  I  shall 
have  the  means  to  resort  to  so  wise  and  well  affected  a 
friend  to  nle  as  I  esteem  yourself,  and  to  a  servant  that 
goes  the  same  way  to  my  master's  ends  that  I  do ;  and 
therefore  let  me  adjure  you,  by  all  the  interests  that  I 
may  or  would  have  in  you,  that  as  you  will  (I  am  sure) 
assist  me  when  I  am  right,  so  by  your  sensible  and  grave 
counsel,  reduce  me  when  I  may  happen  to  tread  awry.''^ 
And  thus,  from  the  first,  is  Wentworth  found  soliciting 
the  direction  of  others  in  all  important  conjunctures ;  not, 
indeed,  with  the  vague  distress  of  one  unprovided  with 
expedients  of  his  own,  and  disposed  to  adopt  the  first 
course  that  shall  be  proposed,  but  with  the  calm  purpose 
of  one  decided  on  the  main  course  to  be  pursued,  yet 
not  unwilling  that  it  receive  the  corroboration,  or  undergo 
the  modification,  of  an  experienced  adviser.  This  has 
been  occasionally  illustrated  in  the  business  of  his  nomi- 
nation by  the  king  for  the  office  of  sheriff,  where,  having 
already  chosen  his  party,  he  submits  his  determination 
to  his  father-in-law,  the  earl  of  Clare,  whose  answer  has 
been  quoted.  I  have  mentioned  also  his  practice  of 
transmitting  duplicates  of  his  despatches  on  all  urgent 
occasions  to  Laud,  Cooke,  and  Cottington. 

No  passage,  indeed,  in  the  career  of  Wentworth  proves 
him  to  have  been  a  vain  man.  His  singular  skill  is  never 
satisfied,  without  an  unremitting  application  of  means  to 
any  desired  end,  and  the  neglect  of  no  circumstance,  the 
most  minute  and  apparently  trivial,  that  may  conduce  to 
its  success.  Would  he  ensure  his  own  return  for  a  county, 
and  smuggle  in  a  ministerial  candidate  under  the  wing  of 
his  own  popularity  ? — He  proceeds  as  though  his  personal 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  87. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  69 

merits  could  in  no  way  influence  the  event,  and  all  his 
hopes  are  founded  on  the  activity  of  his  friends,  which 
he  leaves  no  stone  unturned  to  increase.  In  one  and 
the  same  day^  sir  Thomas  Gower,  high  sheriff  of  York,  is 
informed  that — "Being,  at  tlie  entreaty  of  some  of  my 
best  friends,  resolved  to  try  the  affections  of  my  country- 
men in  the  next  election  of  knights  for  the  shire,  I  could 
do  no  less  than  take  hold  of  this  fit  occasion  to  write 
unto  you  these  few  lines.  Wherein  I  must  first  give  you 
thanks  for  the  good  respect  you  have  been  pleased  to 
show  towards  me,  to  some  of  my  good  friends  who  moved 
you  for  your  just  and  equal  favour  at  the  time  of  the 
election ;  which,  as  I  will  be  found  ready  to  deserve  and 
affectionately  to  requite,  so  must  I  here  solicit  you  for 
the  continuance  of  your  good  purposes  towards  me ;  and 
lastly  desire  to  understand  from  you,  what  day  the  county 
falls  out  upon  (which  is  to  be  the  next  after  the  receipt 
of  the  writ),  that  so  I  may  provide  myself  and  friends  to 
give  our  first  voices  for  Mr.  Secretary,  and  the  second 
for  myself." — Sir  Henry  Bellasis  assured  that — "  Presently 
upon  my  return  from  London,  I  find  by  Mr.  Carre,  how 
much  I  am  beholden  unto  you  for  your  good  affection. 
In  truth  I  do  not  desire  it  out  of  any  ambition,  but  rather 
to  satisfy  some  of  my  best  friends,  and  such  as  have  most 
power  over  me.  Yet,  if  the  country  make  choice  of  me, 
surely  I  will  zealously  perform  the  best  service  for  them 
that  my  means  or  understanding  shall  enable  me  unto. 
And  having  thus  far  upon  this  occasion  declared  myself, 
must  take  it  as  a  great  testimony  of  affection  in  them  that . 
shall  afford  me  their  voices,  and  those  of  their  friends  for 
Mr.  secretary  Calvert  in  the  prime,  and  myself  in  the 
second  place.  Particularly  am  I  hereby  to  give  you 
therefore  thanks,  and  will  so  settledly  lodge  this  favour  in 


70  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

my  heart,  that  I  will  not  fail  to  remember  and  deserve  it. 
In  my  next  letters  I  will  likewise  let  Mr.  Secretary  know 
your  good  respect  and  kindness  towards  him,  whereof  I 
dare  assure  you  he  will  not  be  uninindfiil.     The  election 
day  will  fall  out  very  unhappily  upon  Christmas-day ;  but 
it  is  irremediless,  and  therefore  must   be  yielden  unto. 
If  you  will  please  to  honour  me  with  the  company  of 
yourself  and  friends  upon  that  day  at  dinner,  I  shall  take 
it  as  a  second  and  especial  favour  :  in  retribution  whereof 
you  shall  find  me  still  conversant,  as  occasion  shall  be 
ministered,  in  the  unfeigned  and  constant  offices  of  your 
very  assured  and  affectionate  friend." — Sir  Henry  Savile 
instructed  that — "  I  have  received  your  two  letters,  and 
in  them  both  find  matter  to  thank  you  for  your  respect 
and  kindness  towards  me.     The  later  of  them  I  received 
just  the  afternoon  I  came  out  of  town,  but  I  write  effectu- 
ally  to    Mr.    Secretary  for  a   burgess- ship  for  you   at 
Richmond,  in  regard  I  knew  my  lord  of  Cumberland  was 
partly  engaged :  but  I  will  amongst  them  work  out  one,  or 
I  will  miss  far  of  my  aim.     So  soon  as  I  hear  from  Mr. 
Secretary,  I  will  give  you  further  certainty  herein ;  in  the 
mean  time,  methinks  it  were  not  amiss  if  you  tried  your 
ancient  power  with  them  of  Aldborow,  which  I  leave  to 
your  better  consideration,   and  in  the  mean  time  not 
labour  the  less  to  make  it  sure  for  you  elsewhere,  if  these 
clowns  chance  to  fail  you.     The  writ,  as  I  hear,  is  this 
week  gone  to  the  sheriff;  so  the  next  county  day,  which 
must  without  hope  of  alteration  be  that  of  the  election, 
falls   to   be   Christmas-day,   which   were   to   be  wished 
otherwise;   but  the  discommodity  of  our  friends  more 
upon  that  day  than  another  makes  the  favour  the  greater, 
our  obligation  the  more,  and  therefore  I  hope  they  will 
•the  rather  dispense  with  it.     If  the  old  knight  should  but 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFIORD.  71 

endanger  it,  'faith,  we  miglit  be  reputed  men  of  small 
power  and  esteem  in  the  country  I  but  the  truth  is,  I  fear 
him  not.  If  your  health  serve  you,  I  shall  wish  your 
company  at  York,  and  that  yourself  and  friends  would 
eat  a  Christmas  pie  with  me  there :  I  tell  you  there 
would  be  a  hearty  welcome,  and  I  would  take  it  as  an 
especial  favour,  so  value  it,  and  as  such  an  one  remember 
it." — Sir  Matthew  Boynton  reminded  that — "  The  ancient 
and  near  acquaintance  that  hath  been  betwixt  us  causeth 
me  to  rank  you  in  the  number  of  my  friends ;  and  being 
moved  by  my  friends  to  stand  second  with  Mr.  secretary 
Calvert  for  knight  of  the  shire  at  this  next  parliament,  I 
assure  myself  I  might  confidently  address  myself  unto 
you  for  the  voices  of  yourself  and  fi lends  in  the  election, 
which  falls  out  unfortunately  to  be  upon  Christmas-day. 
But  as  the  trouble  of  my  friends  thereby  will  be  the 
greater,  so  doth  it  add  to  my  obligation.  I  hope  like- 
wise to  enjoy  your  company  and  friends  that  day  at 
dinner.  You  shall  be  in  no  place  better  welcome." — 
And  Christopher  Wandesford  given  notice  that — "the 
writ  will  be  delivered  by  Mr.  Radcliffe  within  these  two 
days  to  the  sheriff,  to  whom  I  have  written,  giving  him 
thanks  for  his  kindness,  desiring  the  continuance  thereof. 
And  now,  lest  you  should  think  me  forgetful  of  that 
which  concerns  yourself,  I  hasten  to  let  you  know  that  I 
have  got  an  absolute  promise  of  my  lord  Clifford,  that 
if  I  be  chosen  knight^  you  shall  have  a  burgess-ship 
{reserved  for  me)  at  Appleby,  wherewith  I  must  confess  I 
am  not  a  little  pleased,  in  regard  we  shall  sit  there,  judge, 
and  laugh  together'^ 

The  reader  will  remember  that  all  these,  with  many 
other  letters,  are  written  and  despatched  on  the  same 
day.     No  apology  is  necessary  for  the  length  at  which 


72  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

I  quote  them;  since,  in  rescuing  them  from  false  and 
distorted  arrangement,  much  misconception  is  prevented, 
and  a  very  valuable  means  of  judgment  furnished  on 
Wentworth's  general  conduct. 

He  goes  on  to  let  sir  Thomas  Fairfax  know,  that — 
"  I  was  at  London  much  intreated,  and,  indeed,  at  last 
enjoined,  to  stand  with  Mr.  secretary  Calvert  for  to  be 
knight  of  this  shire  the  next  parliament,  both  by  my  lord 
Clifford  and  himself;  which,  after  I  had  assented  unto, 
and  despatched  my  letters,  I  perceived  that  some  of 
your  friends  had  motioned  the  like  to  Mr.  Secretary 
on  your  behalf,  and  were  therein  engaged,  which  was 
the  cause  I  writ  no  sooner  unto  you.  Yet,  hearing  by 
my  cousin  Middleton  that,  he  moving  you  in  my  be- 
half for  your  voices,  you  were  not  only  pleased  to  give 
over  that  intendment,  but  freely  to  promise  us  your  best 
assistance, — I  must  confess  I  cannot  forbear  any  longer 
to  write  unto  you  how  much  this  courtesy  deserves  of 
me;  and  that  I  cannot  choose  but  take  it  most  kindly 
from  you,  as  suitable  with  the  ancient  affection  which 
you  have  always  borne  me  and  my  house.  And  presum- 
ing of  the  continuance  of  your  good  respect  towards  me, 
I  must  entreat  the  company  of  yourself  and  friends  with 
me  at  dinner  on  Christmas-day,  being  the  day  of  the 
election,  where  I  shall  be  most  glad  of  you,  and  there 
give  you  further  thanks  for  your  kind  respects." — And 
thus  reports  progress  to  Mr.  Secretary  himself: — "May 
it  please  you,  sir,  the  parliament  writ  is  delivered  to  the 
sheriff,  and  he  by  his  faithful  promise  deeply  engaged  for 
you.  1  find  the  gentlemen  of  these  parts  generally  ready 
to  do  you  service.  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  stirs  not;  but 
sir  John  Savile,  by  his  instruments  exceeding  busy,  in- 
timating to  the  common  sort  under  hand,  that  yourself, 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  73 

being  not  resiant  in  the  county,  cannot  by  law  be  chosen, 
and,  being   his  majesty's  secretary  and  a  stranger,  one 
not  safe  to  be  trusted   by  the  country; — but  all   this 
according  to  his  manner  so  closely  and  cunningly  as  if 
he  had  no  part  therein ;  neither  doth  he  as  yet  further 
declare  himself  than  only  that  he  will  be  at  York  the  day 
of  the  election  ; — and  thus  finding  he  cannot  work  them 
from  me,  labours  only  to  supplant  you.     I  endeavour  to 
meet  with  him  as  well  as  I  may,  and  omit  nothing  that 
my  poor  understanding  tells  me  may  do   you  service. 
My  lord  president  hath  writ  to  his  freeholders  on  your 
behalf,  and  seeing  he  will  be  in  town  on  the  election  day, 
it  were  I  think  very  good  he  would  be  pleased  to  show 
himself  for  you  in  the  Castle-yard,  and  that  you  writ  unto 
him  a  few  lines,  taking  notice  you  hear  of  some  opposi- 
tion, and  therefore  desire  his  presence  might  secure  you 
of  fair  carriage  in  the  choice.     /  have  heard^  that  when  sir 
Francis  Darcy  opposed  sir  Thomas  Lake  in  a  matter  of 
like  nature,  the  lords  of  the  council  writ  to  sir  Francis  to 
desist.     L  know  my  lord  chancellor  is  very  sensible  of  you 
in  this  business ;  a  word  to  him,  and  such  a  letter,  would 
make  an  end  of  all.     Sir,  pardon  me,  I  beseech  you,  for 
I  protest  I  am  in  travail  till  all  be  sure  for  you,  which 
imboldens  me  to  propound  these  things,  which  notwith- 
standing   I    most    humbly   submit    to   your   judgment. 
When  you  have  resolved,   be  pleased  to  dispatch  the 
bearer  back  again  with  your  answer,  which  I  shall  take 
care  of.     There  is  not  any  that  labours  more  heartily  for 
you  than  my  lord  Darcy.     Sir,  I  wish  a  better  occasion 
wherein  to  testify  the   dutiful  and    affectionate  respects 
your  favours  and  nobleness  may  justly  require  from  me." 
— Sir  Arthur  Ingram  is  then  apprised,  in  a  letter  which  is 
full  of  character,  that,  "  as  touching  the  election,  we  now 


74  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

grow  to  some  heat;  sir  John  Savile's  instruments  closely 
and  cunningly  suggesting  under  hand  Mr.  Secretary's 
non-residence,  his  being  the  king's  servant,  and  out  of 
these  reasons  by  law  cannot,  and  in  good  discretion 
ought  not,  be  chosen  of  the  country ;  whereas  himself  is 
their  martyr,  having  suffered  for  them  ;  the  patron  of  the 
clothiers ;  of  all  others  the  fittest  to  be  relied  on ;  and 
that  he  intends  to  be  at  York  the  day  of  the  election, — 
craftily  avoiding  to  declare  himself  absolutely.  And  thus 
he  works,  having  spread  this  jealousy,  that  albeit  I 
persuade  myself  generally  they  would  give  me  their  prime 
voice,  yet  in  good  faith  I  think  it  very  improbable  we 
shall  ever  get  the  first  place  for  Mr.  Secretary;  nay,  I 
protest  we  shall  have  need  of  our  strength  to  obtain  him 
a  second  election  :  so  as  the  likeliest  way,  so  far  as  I  am 
able  to  judge,  to  secure  both,  will  be  for  me  to  stand  for 
the  prime,  and  so  cast  all  my  second  voices  upon  him, 
which,  notwithstanding,  we  may  help  by  putting  him  first 
in  the  indenture.  I  am  exceeding  sorry,  that  the  foulness 
and  length  of  the  way  put  me  out  of  hope  of  your 
company;  and  therefore  I  pray  you,  let  us  have  your 
advice  herein  by  the  bearer.  Your  letter  to  your  friends 
in  Halifax  admits  some  question,  because  you  desire 
their  voices  for  Mr.  Secretary  and  myself  the  rather  for 
that  sir  John  Savile  stands  not ;  so,  say  they,  if  he  stand, 
we  are  left  to  our  liberty.  You  will  therefore  please  to 
clear  that  doubt  by  another  letter,  which,  delivered  to 
this  messenger,  I  will  get  sent  unto  them.  I  fear  greatly 
they  will  give  their  second  voice  with  sir  John.  Mr. 
I.eech  promised  me  he  would  procure  his  lord's  letter  to 
the  freeholders  within  Hallomshire  and  the  honor  of 
Pontefract ;  that  my  cousin  Lascells,  my  lord's  principal 
agent  in  these  parts,  should  himself  labour  Hallomshire ; 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  75 

Mr.  Banister,  the  learned  steward  of  Pontefract,  do  the 
like  there ;  and  both  of  them  be  present  at  the  election, 
the  better  to  secure  those  parts.  I  hear  not  any  thing  of 
them.  I  pray  you,  press  Mr.  Leech  to  the  performance 
of  his  promise  ;  letting  him  know  sir  John  Savile's  friends 
labour  for  him,  and  he  declares  in  a  manner  he  will 
stand ;  and  get  him  to  send  the  letters  by  this  my 
servant.  I  desire  likewise  he  would  intreat  my  cousin 
Lascells,  that  he  would  take  the  pains  to  come  over,  and 
speak  with  me  the  Monday  before  Christmas-day  here  at 
my  house.  Sir,  you  see  how  bold  I  am  to  trouble  you, 
and  yet  I  must  desire  you  would  be  pleased  to  afford  me 
the  commodity  of  your  house  for  two  nights,  to  entertain 
my  friends.  I  shall,  God  willing,  be  most  careful  that 
nothing  be  impaired,  and  shall  number  this  amongst 
many  other  your  noble  courtesies,  which  have  inviolably 
knit  me  unto  you." — Sir  Thomas  Dawney  is  solicited  to 
the  same  effect,  and  sir  Henry  Slingsby  informed  that — • 
"  the  certainty  I  have  of  sir  John  Savile's  standing,  and 
the  various  reports  I  hear  of  the  country  people's  affection 
towards  Mr.  Secretary,  makes  me  desirous  to  know  how 
you  find  them  inclined  in  your  parts.  For  this  wapen- 
take, as  also  that  of  Osgodcross  and  Staincross,  I  certainly 
persuade  myself,  will  go  wholly  for  us.  In  Skyrack  I 
assure  myself  of  a  better  part,  and  I  will  perform  promise 
with  Mr  Secretary,  bringing  a  thousand  voices  of  my  own 
besides  my  friends.  Some  persuade  me,  that  the  better 
way  to  secure  both,  were  for  me  to  stand  prime,  cast  all 
my  second  voices  on  Mr.  Secretary,  and  put  him  first 
into  the  indenture.  I  pray  you  consider  of  it,  and  write 
me  your  opinion  ;  /  would  not  lose  substance  for  such  a 
toyish  ceremony.  There  is  danger  both  ways  :  for  if  Mr. 
Secretary  stand  first,  it  is  much  to  be  feared,  the  country 


76  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

will  not  stand  for  him  firm  and  intire  against  sir  John. 
If  I  be  first  chosen^  ivhich  I  make  no  question  but  I  could., 
then  is  it  to  be  doubted.,  the  people  might  fly  over  to  the 
other  side.,  which.,  notwithstanding.,  in  iny  conceit.,  of  the 
two  is  the  inore  unlikely :  for,  after  they  be  once  settled  and 
engaged  for  me.,  they  will  not  be  so  apt  to  stir.  And 
again,  it  may  be  so  suddenly  carried,  as  they  shall  have 
no  time  to  move.  At  a  word,  we  shall  need  all  our 
endeavours  to  make  Mr.  Secretary,  and  therefore,  sir, 
I  pray  you  gather  up  all  you  possibly  can.  I  would 
gladly  know  how  many  you  think  we  may  expect  from 
you.  My  lord  Clifford  will  be  at  Tadcaster  upon 
Christmas-eve,  about  one  of  the  clock :  if  that  be  your 
way,  I  am  sure  he  would  be  glad  yourself  and  friends 
would  meet  him  there ;  that  so  we  might  go  into  York  the 
next  day,  vote,  and  dine  together,  where  you  shall  be  most 
heartily  welcome." — Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  is  again  moved 
very  earnestly  to  make — "  all  the  strength  of  friends  and 
number  you  can  to  give  their  voices  for  us  at  the  next 
election,  falling  to  be  upon  Christmas-day;  the  rather, 
because  the  old  gallant  of  Hooley  intends  certainly  to 
stand,  whom  indeed,  albeit  I  should  lightly  weigh,  were 
the  matter  betwixt  him  and  me,  yet  I  doubt  Mr. 
Secretary  (if  his  friends  stand  not  closely  to  him)  being 
not  well  known  in  the  country.  Sir,  you  have  therefore 
hereby  an  opportunity  offered  to  do  us  all  an  especial 
favour,  which  shall  bind  us  to  a  ready  and  chearful 
requital,  when  you  shall  have  occasion  to  use  any  of  us. 
My  lord  Clifford  will  be,  God  willing,  at  Tadcaster  upon 
Christmas-eve  about  one  of  the  clock,  where  I  assure 
myself  he  will  much  desire  that  yourself  and  friends  will 
be  phased  to  meet  him,  that  so  we  may  go  into  York 
together ;    and  myself  earnestly  intreat  the  company  of 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  77 

yourself  and  them  the  next  day  at  dinner,  which  I  shall 
esteem  as  a  double  favour." — And   his  cousin  Thomas 
Wentworth  advertised  that,  "being,  as  you  know,  en- 
gaged to  stand  with  Mr.  Secretary  Calvert  to  be  knights 
for  this   parliamer.t,   and  sir  John  Savile  our  only  op- 
ponent, I  must  make  use  of  my  friends  and  intreat  them 
to  deal  thoroughly  for  us,  in  regard  the  loss  of  it  would 
much  prejudice  our  estimations  above.     In  which  number 
I  esteem  yourself,  one  of  my  best  and  fastest   friends. 
The  course  my  lord  Darcy  and  I  hold  is,  to  intreat  the 
high  constables  to  desire  the  petty  constables  to  set  down  the 
na?nes  of  all  freeholders  within  their  townships,  and  which 
of  them  have  promised  to  be  at    York  aftd  bestow  their 
voices  with  tcs,  so  as  we  may  keep  the  note  as  a  testifnony 
of  their  good  affections,  and  know  whom  we  are  beholden 
unto,  desiring  them  further  to  go  along  with  us  to  York 
on  Sunday,  being  Christmas-eve,  or  else  meet  us  about 
two  of  the  clock   at   Tadcaster.     I   desire  you   would 
please   to   deal   effectually   with   your   high   constables, 
and   hold   the   same  course,  that   so  we   may  be   able 
to    judge   what   number  we   may   expect  out   of  your 
wapentake.     As   I   no   ways   doubt   of  your   uttermost 
endeavours  and  pains  in  a  matter  of  this  nature,  deeply 
touching   my    credit,    so   will    I    value    it   as   a   special 
testimony  of  your  love  towards  me.     I  hope  you  will 
take    the   pains    to   go    along   with   us,   together   with 
your    friends,   to    York,   that  so   we   may   come   all  in 
together,  and   take   part  of  an   ill  dinner  with  me  the 
next    day ;    where  yourself  and   friends  shall    be  right 
heartily  welcome."  ^ 

It  is  not  necessary  to  recall  attention  to  the  political 
principle,  or  the  party  views,  which  are  evidenced  in 

^  These  various  letters  will  be  found  in  the  Strafford  Papers. 


78  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

these  letters  ^ ;  but  bow  singular  and  complete  is  the 
illustration  they  afford,  of  Wentworth's  practice  of  letting 
slip  no  method,  however  ordinary,  of  compassing  his 
designs  !  Is  he  interested,  either,  in  the  success  of  a 
lawsuit? — we  find  that — "he  spent  eight  years'  time, 
besides  his  pains  and  money,  in  soliciting  the  business 
and  suits  of  his  nephews  sir  George  and  sir  William 
Savile,  going  every  term  to  London  about  that  only, 
without  missing  one  term  in  thirty,  as  I  verily  believe. 
And  all  this  merely  in  memory  of  the  kindness  which 
had  passed  betwixt  him  and  his  brother-in-law  sir  George 
Savile,  then  deceased."  ^  And  so  with  all  things  that 
interested  him. 

To  this  head,  then,  the  reader  is  asked  to  refer  many 
proceedings,  which,  hitherto,  have  been  cited  in  proof  of 
an  excessive  vanity.  They  were  rather  the  suggestions  of 
a  mind  well  aware  of  the  influence  of  seeming  trifles  on 
the  accomplishment  of  important  purposes.  The  pomp- 
ous enumeration  of  his  heraldic  honours  in  the  preamble 
to  his  patent  of  nobility,  and  the  "  extraordinary  pomp  " 
with  which  he  was  created  Viscount  and  president  of  the 
North,  were  no  unnecessary  precaution  against  the 
surprise  and  disdain  of  an  insolent  herd  of  courtiers,  and 
were  yet  ineffectual  wholly  to  restrain  their  sarcasms.^ 
The  unexampled  splendour  of  his  after  progress  to  the 
opening  of  the    Irish    parliament  was,   no    doubt,   well 

^  The  beginning  of  electioneering  tactics  is  also  curiously  discern- 
ible in  them. 

2  Radclifife's  Essay. 

3  "The  duke  of  Buckingham  himself  flew  not  so  high  in  so 
short  a  revolution  of  time.  He  was  made  a  viscount  with  a  great 
deal  of  high  ceremony  upon  a  Sunday,  in  the  afternoon,  at  White- 
hall. My  lord  Powis,  who  affects  him  not  much,  being  told  that 
the  heralds  had  fetched  his  pedigree  from  the  blood  royal,  viz,  from 
John  of  Gaunt,  said,  '  Dammy,  if  ever  he  comes  lo  be  king  of  England, 
I  will  turn  rebel.'"— EpistolcB  IJowelliana,  No.  34.  edit.  1650. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  79 

calculated  to  "  beget  an  awful  admiration  "  in  the  minds 
of  a  body  of  men  whose  services  he  was  then  preparing 
to  obtain  by  far  more  questionable  means  ; — and  his 
fierce  resentment  of  the  slightest  infringement  of  the 
etiquette  he  had  succeeded  in  establishing,  his  minute 
arrangements  with  respect  to  the  ceremony  he  conceived 
necessary  to  the  powers  he  was  entrusted  with,  have  their 
censure  on  other  grounds  than  any  intrinsic  absurdity 
they  evince.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  high  time,  in  cases 
of  this  sort,  to  shift  our  censure  to  the  grosser  absurdity 
of  the  principles  which  require  such  means  for  their 
support.  Ceremony  in  the  abstract — the  mere  forms  of 
etiquette,  sinking  through  their  own  emptiness,  sustaining 
no  purpose,  and  unsustained  by  none — Wentworth  re- 
garded with  a  more  supreme  scorn  than  they  were  held 
in  by  any  of  his  prudish  opponents  among  his  own  party. 
"  I  confess,"  writes  he  on  one  occasion,  "  this  matter  of 
PLACE  I  have  ever  judged  a  ^vomanly  things  and  so  love 
not  to  trouble  myself  therewith,  more  than  needs  must." 
He  cares  not,  moreover,  submitting  cheerfully  throughout 
to  the  king's  unworthy  arrangement, — that  himself  should 
gather  "golden  opinions"  by  a  liberal  bestowment  of 
honours  in  Ireland  on  the  more  troublesome  of  his 
suitors,  while  to  his  deputy  was  confided  the  ungracious 
task  of  interposing  a  veto  on  the  royal  benefaction,  and 
receiving,  in  his  own  person,  the  curses  of  the  disap- 
pointed.^ Against  the  bitterness  of  their  discontent, 
Wentworth  had  his  unfailing  resource.  "  I  shall  not 
neglect,"  he  writes,  "  to  preserve  myself  in  good  opinion 
with  this  people,  in  regard  I  become  thereby  better  able 
to  do  my  master's  service  \  longer  than  it  works  to  that 
purpose,  I  am  very  indifferent  what  they  shall  think,  or 
^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  140. 


So  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

can  say,  concerning  me."  Not  the  less  scruple  had  he 
in  complaining  of  the  king's  arrangement,  when  it  was 
tortured  to  purposes  he  had  never  contemplated,  and  he 
discovered  that  the  character  of  his  government  was 
become  that  of  an  iron  rule,  wherein  reward  had  no 
place,  even  for  its  zealous  supporters.^  For  the  foolish 
gravity  of  the  luckless  king  had  continued  to  pen  epistle 
upon  epistle,  disposing  of  the  most  subordinate  posts  in 
the  army,  as  well  as  the  higher  dignities  of  the  church. 
The  system,  in  the  first  instance,  however,  was  one  which 
a  proud  man,  certainly,  might  submit  to,  but  a  vain  man 
would  hardly  acquiesce  in. 

I  resume  the  progress  of  Wentworth's  fortunes.  His 
elevation  became  an  instant  subject  of  general  remark ; 
and  it  is  not  difficult  to  discover,  that,  in  his  native 
county,  where  he  was  best  known,  the  surprise  excited 
by  so  sudden  a  change,  after  such  violent  opposition,  was 
balanced  by  a  greater  surprise,  on  the  other  hand,  that 

^  One  instance,  out  of  the  many  which  strikingly  illustrate  Went- 
worth's character  in  this  respect,  may  be  subjoined.  Lord  Newburgh 
had  procured  from  the  king  a  promise  of  promotion  for  a  young  man 
in  the  Irish  army — which  the  lord  deputy  felt  would  be  disad- 
vantageous to  the  public  service.  Here  are  some  passages  of  his 
remonstrance  : — *'  For  if  I  be  not  favoured  so  far,  as  that  I  may  be 
able  to  make  myself  friends,  and  draw  unto  myself  some  dependence, 
by  the  expectance  men  may  have  from  me  in  these  places,  that  so  I 
may  have  assistance  and  cheerful  countenance  from  some,  as  I  have 
already  purchased  the  sour  and  bent  brow  of  some  of  them  ;  I  fore- 
see, 1  shall  have  little  honour,  comfort,  or  safety  amongst  them. 
For  a  man  to  enforce  obedience  by  punishment  only,  and  be  deprived 
all  means  to  reward  some — to  be  always  in  vinegar,  never  to  com- 
municate of  the  sweet — is,  in  my  estimation  of  it,  the  meanest,  most 

ignoble  condition  any  free  spirit  can  be  reduced  unto The 

conclusion  therefore  is,  I  am  confident  his  majesty  will  not  debar 
me  of  what  (be  it  spoken  under  favour)  belongs  to  my  place,  for  all 
the  solicitation  of  the  pretty  busy  lord  Newburgh,  who,  if  a  man 
should  move  his  majesty  for  anything  in  the  gift  of  the  chancellor  of 
the  duchy,  would  as  pertly  cackle,  and  put  himself  in  the  way  of 
complaint,  as  if  he  had  all  the  merit  and  ability  in  the  world  to  serve 
his  master." — Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  136 — 142. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  8 1 

the  honour  should  have  been  delayed  so  long.  "  Give  me 
leave  to  inform  you,"  writes  sir  Richard  Hutton\  in  a 
passage  which  is  expressive  of  both  these  feelings,  "  that 
your  late  conferred  honour  is  the  subject  of  much  dis- 
course here  in  Yorkshire,  which,  I  conceive,  proceeds 
from  the  most,  not  out  of  any  other  cause  than  their 
known  worth  in  you,  which  is  thought  merited  it  much 
sooner  and  greater ;  but  this  is  only  to  entertain  you  a 
little  longer;  for  I  know  that  your  actions  are  not  justly 
liable  to  any  censure,  I  am  sure  not  to  mine ;  for,  being 
yours,  it  speaks  them  good  to  me,  if  not  the  best."  The 
character  of  the  important  office  entrusted  to  Wentworth 
included  much  that  was  especially  grateful  to  him  : — 
enlarged  by  his  desire,  it  presented  power  almost  un- 
limited ;  freedom  at  the  same  time  from  the  little  annoy- 
ances of  the  court ;  and  the  opportunity  of  exhibiting  his 
genius  for  despotic  rule  in  his  own  county,  where  personal 
friends  might  witness  its  successes,  and  old  adversaries, 
should  the  occasion  offer,  be  made  the  objects  of  its 
triumph.  To  crown  his  cause  of  satisfaction,  the  duke 
of  Buckingham,  who  had  still  hung  darkly  over  his 
approach  to  a  perfect  confidence  and  favour,  was  re- 
moved by  the  knife  of  Felton.  Secret  congratulations 
passed,  within  a  few  days  after  this  event,  between  Went- 
worth and  Weston.  Every  thing  seemed  to  favour  his 
entrance  into  power,  and  a  light  rose  upon  the  future. 
"  You  tell  me,"  writes  his  friend  Wandesford  to  him, 
"  God  hath  blessed  you  much  in  these  late  proceedings. 
Truly,  I  believe  it,  for  by  these  circumstances  we  know, 
we  may  guess  at  them  we  know  not."^  This  friend  was 
not  forgotten.     Though  so  recently  one  of  the  active 

'    ^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  47. 
3  Ibid.  p.  49. 


82  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

managers  of  the  impeachment  against  Buckingham,  he 
was  at  once  received  into  favour,  and  Wentworth  waited 
his  opportunity  to  employ  the  services  of  others,  equally 
dear  and  valuable,  while  he  did  not  fail  to  improve  his 
opportunities  of  intercourse  among  his  new  associates. 
Laud  was  the  chief  object  of  his  concern  in  this  respect, 
for  he  had  observed  Laud's  rising  influence  with  the  king. 
Wentworth  wis^ely  deferred  his  departure  to  the  North 
until  after  the  dissolution  of  parliament.  The  powers 
that  awaited  him  there,  increased  by  his  stipulations,  I 
have  described  as  nearly  unlimited.  The  council  of 
York,  or  of  the  North,  whose  jurisdiction  extended  over 
the  counties  of  York,  Northumberland,  Cumberland,  and 
Westmoreland,  over  the  cities  of  York  and  Hull,  the 
bishopric  of  Durham,  and  the  town  of  Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne  \  included  within  itself  the  powers  of  the  courts  of 
common  law,  of  the  chancery,  even  of  the  star  chamber. 
It  had  originated  in  the  frequent  northern  rebellions 
which  followed  Henry  VHI.'s  suppression  of  the  lesser 
monasteries.  Before  the  scheme  for  the  suppression  of 
the  greater  monasteries  was  carried  into  effect,  it  was 
judged  expedient,  in  consequence  of  such  disturbances, 
to  grant  a  commission  to  the  bishop  of  Llandafif  and 
others,  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  the  peace  of  these 
northern  counties.  This  commission  was,  to  all  appear- 
ances, simply  one  of  oyer  and  terminer ;  but  a  clause  had 
been  inserted  in  it,  towards  the  conclusion,  authorising 
the  commissioners  to  hear  all  causes,  real  and  personal, 
when  either  or  both  of  the  parties  laboured  under 
poverty  2,  and  to  decide  according  to  sound  discretion. 

^  Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  162. 

"^  **  Quando  ambse  partes,  vel   altera  pars,  gravata  paupertate 
fuerit." — Rtishivorth^  vol.  ii.  p.  162. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  83 

This  latter  licence,  however,  was  soon  afterwards  declared 
by  all  the  judges  to  be  illegal ;  and  the  power  of  hearing 
real  and  personal  causes  at  all  was  rarely  acted  upon  up 
to  the  second  year  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  when  it  also  was 
declared  to  be  illegal,  since  causes  regarding  property, 
whether  real  or  personal,  could  only  be  decided  by  the 
laws  of  the  land.  It  was  reserved  for  James  to  issue, 
over  these  decisions,  a  new  commission,  "  very  differing," 
says  Clarendon,  "from  all  that  went  before."  The 
commissioners  were  no  longer  ordered  to  inquire  "  per 
sacramentum  bonorum  et  legalium  hominum,"  or  to  be 
controlled  by  any  forms  of  law,  but  were  referred  merely 
to  secret  instructions,  which,  for  the  first  time,  were  sent 
down  to  the  council.  This  at  once  reduced  the  whole  of 
the  North  to  an  absolute  subjection,  and  that  so  flagrant, 
that  the  judges  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  had  the 
decent  courage  to  protest  actively  against  it,  by  issuing 
prohibitions  on  demand  to  the  president  and  council; 
and  James  himself  was  obliged  to  have  the  instructions  in- 
rolled,  that  the  people  might,  in  some  measure,  be  able  to 
ascertain  by  what  rules  their  conduct  was  to  be  regulated.^ 
One  of  Wentworth's  first  announcements,  in  succeeding 
to  this  enormous  power,  the  very  acceptance  of  which 
was  a  violation  of  the  vital  principles  and  enactments  of 
the  petition  of  right,  was  to  declare  that  he  would  lay 
any  man  by  the  heels  who  ventured  to  sue  out  a  prohibi- 
tion in  the  courts  at  Westminster.^  His  excuse  for  such 
a  course  of  proceeding  was  afterwards  boldly  avowed.^ 

^  An  interesting  account  of  the  origin  and  practices  of  this  council 
of  York  was  given  by  Hyde  (lord  Clarendon)  in  the  long  parliament. 
The  speech  is  reported  by  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.  pp.  162 — 165. 

^  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.  p.  159. 

3  In  his  answers  to  the  charges  of  his  impeachment.  See  Rush- 
worth,  vol.  ii.  p.  i6i 


84  BROWNING'S  LIFE  OF  STRAFFORD. 

"  It  was  a  chaste  ambition,  if  rightly  placed,  to  have  as 
much  power  as  may  be,  that  there  may  be  power  to  do 
the  more  good  for  the  place  where  a  man  serves."  Now 
Wentworth's  notion  of  good  went  straight  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  absolute  government;  and  to  this,  his  one 
grand  object,  from  the  very  first  moment  of  his  public 
authority,  he  bent  every  energy  of  his  soul.  He  devoted 
himself,  night  and  day,  to  the  public  business.  Lord 
Scroop's  1  arrears  were  speedily  disposed  of,  an  effective 
militia  was  embodied  and  disciplined,  and  all  possible 
means  were  resorted  to  for  an  increase  of  revenue.  The 
fines  on  recusants,  the  compositions  for  knighthood,  and 
the  various  exactions  imposed  by  government,  were 
rigorously  enforced  by  him.  At  the  same  time  his  hand, 
though  heavy,  was  equal,  and  the  reports  of  his  govern- 
ment were,  in  consequence,  found  to  be  very  various. 
The  complainants  contradicted  each  other.  "  Your  pro- 
ceeding with  the  recusants,"  writes  Weston,  "is  here, 
where  it  is  well  understood,  well  taken,  tho'  there  be 
different  rumours.  For,  it  is  said,  that  you  proceed  with 
extreme  rigour,  valuing  the  goods  and  lands  of  the  poorest 
at  the  highest  rates,  or  rather  above  the  value,  without 
which  you  are  not  content  to  make  any  composition. 
This  is  not  believed,  especially  by  me,  who  know  your 
wisdom  and  moderation  :  and  your  last  too  gave  much 
satisfaction  even  to  those  who  informed  me,  when  they 
saw  thereby,  that  you  had  compounded  with  none  but 


^  His  predecessor  in  the  government  of  York,  afterwards  earl  of 
Sunderland.  Wandesford  speaks  of  him  with  great  contempt,  in  a 
letter  to  Wentworth  :  "Your  predecessor,  like  that  candle  hid  under 
a  bushel,  while  he  lived  in  this  place,  darkened  himself  and  all  that 
were  about  him,  and  dieth  towards  us  (excuse  me  for  the  phrase) 
like  a  snuff  unmannerly  left  in  a  corner." — Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i. 
p.  49. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  85 

to  their  own  contentment."  ^  Cottington,  the  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer,  had  expressed  more  characteristically, 
some  days  before,  the  approbation  of  the  court.  "  For 
the  business  of  the  recusants,  my  lord  treasurer  sent 
immediately  your  letter  to  the  king  (who  is  in  his  pro- 
gress), from  whom  he  received  a  notable  approbation 
both  of  your  intentions  and  proceedings,  as  he  himself 
will  tell  your  lordship  in  his  own  letters ;  for  you  are  his 
mistress,  and  must  be  cherished  and  courted  by  none  but 
himself"  So  early  did  the  king  deem  it  expedient  to 
exhibit,  that  peculiar  sense  of  his  minister's  service. 
When  the  minister  had  bound  himself  up  inextricably 
with  the  royal  cause,  it  was  thought  to  be  less  expedient ! 
In  such  a  course  as  this  which  Wentworth  had  now 
entered  on,  it  is  quite  clear,  that  to  have  permitted  the 
slightest  disregard  of  the  authority  assumed,  must  have 
proved  fatal.  I  cannot  see  any  thing  unnatural,  there- 
fore, in  his  conduct  to  Henry  Bellasis,  and  in  several 
other  personal  questions  which  at  present  come  under 
notice.  Nothing  is  apparent  in  it  at  variance  with  the 
system  to  be  worked  out,  nothing  outrageous  or  impru- 
dent, as  his  party  have  been  at  some  pains  to  allege. 
These  matters  are  not  to  be  discussed  in  the  abstract. 
Despotism  is  the  gist  of  the  question ;  and  if  the  phrase 
''unnatural"  is  to  be  used,  let  it  fall  upon  that.  The 
means  employed  to  enforce  it,  are  obliged,  as  a  matter  of 
necessity,  to  partake  of  its  own  nature,  or  it  would  not 
for  an  instant  be  borne.  One  of  Wentworth's  first 
measures  had  been  to  claim  for  himself,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  absolute  royalty,  the  most  absolute  reverence 
and  respect.  On  the  occasion  of  a  "solemn  meeting," 
however,  this  young  man  Bellasis,  the  son  of  the  lord 
^  ^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  52. 


86  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD, 

Faulconberg,  manifested  a  somewhat  impertinent  dis- 
regard of  these  orders,  entered  the  room  without  "  show- 
ing any  particular  reverence"  to  the  lord  president, 
remained  there  with  his  hat  on,  and  as  Wentworth 
himself  passed  out  of  the  meeting  "  with  his  hat  off,  the 
king's  mace-bearer  before  him,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
company  uncovered,  Mr.  Bellasis  stood  with  his  hat  on 
his  head,  looking  full  upon  his  lordship  without  stirring 
his  hat,  or  using  any  other  reverence  or  civility."  In 
a  man  of  rank,  this  was  the  less  to  be  overlooked. 
Bellasis  was  ordered  before  the  council  board,  where  he 
pleaded  that  his  negligence  had  arisen  from  accident, 
that  his  look  was  turned  the  other  way,  that  he  was  not 
aware  of  the  lord  president's  approach,  till  he  had  passed, 
and,  finally,  that  he  meant  no  disrespect  to  the  lord 
president's  dignity.  He  was  required  to  express,  in 
addition,  his  sorrow  for  having  given  offence  to  "  lord 
Wentworth."  He  refused  to  do  this ;  but  at  last,  after  a 
month's  imprisonment  in  the  Gate-house,  was  obliged  to 
submit.^  Other  cases  of  the  same  description  occurred. 
A  barrister  at  law,  something  disaffected  to  the  lord 
president's  jurisdiction,  expiated  his  offence  in  a  lowly 
submission  on  his  knees  ^ ;  and  a  punishment  fell  on  sir 
David  Foulis,  heavier  and  more  terrible,  in  proportion  to 
Wentworth's  sense  of  the  conduct  that  had  provoked  it. 

Sir  David  Foulis  was  a  deputy  lieutenant,  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  and  a  member  of  the  council  of  York. 
Holding  this  position  in  the  county,  he  had,  on  various 
occasions,  made  very  disrespectful  mention  of  the  council 
of  York ;  had  thrown  out  several  invidious  insinuations 

^  See  the  proceedings  before  the  council  board,  Rushworth,  vol. 
ii.  p.  88. 

^  See  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.  p.  i6o. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  87 

against  its  president ;  and  had  shown  much  activity  and 
zeal  in  instigating  persons  not  to  pay  the  composition 
for  knighthood,  which  he  considered  an  illegal  and 
oppressive  exaction.^  Wentworth  immediately  resolved 
to  make  him  a  signal  example;  and  the  extraordinary 
perseverance,  and  unscrupulous  measures,  by  dint  of 
which  he  at  last  secured  this,  are  too  singularly  illustrative 
of  his  character,  to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  An  inform- 
ation was  immediately  ordered  to  be  exhibited  in  the 
star  chamber  against  sir  David  Foulis ;  against  his  son, 
who  had  shared  in  his  offence  :  and  against  sir  Thomas 
Layton,  the  high  sheriff  of  the  county,  who  had  sanctioned 
and  assisted  the  disaffection.  Some  necessary  delays 
put  off  the  hearing  of  the  cause  till  after  Wentworth's 
departure  to  Dublin.  But  one  of  the  last  things  with 
which  he  busied  himself  previous  to  his  departure,  was 
the  making  sure  of  the  issue.  He  wrote  from  West- 
minster to  the  lord  treasurer,  (one  of  the  judges  that 
were  to  try  it !)  who  was  then  in  Scotland — "  I  have 
perused  all  the  examinations  betwixt  me  and  Foulis,  and 
find  all  the  material  parts  of  the  bill  fully  proved,  so  as  I 
have  him  soundly  upon  the  hip ;  but  I  desire  it  may  not 
be  spoken  of,  for  albeit  I  may  by  order  of  the  court  see 

^  Foulis  had,  in  less  important  matters,  equally  sought  to  baffle 
the  authority  of  the  lord  president.  I  find  the  following  passage  in 
a  letter  to  Wentworth,  from  sir  William  Pennyman,  one  of  his 
watchful  retainers  : — "There  was  a  constable  under  sir  David  Foulis 
(who,  by  reason  of  some  just  excuse  as  was  pretended,  appeared  not) 
that  refused  to  pay  twelve  pence  to  captain  Philips,  and  it  was  thus 
discovered.  I  bid  one  of  the  townsmen  lay  down  twelve  pence,  and 
the  constable  should  pay  him  again.  He  answered,  That  the  con- 
stable told  him,  that  sir  David  Foulis  had  commanded  him,  that  if 
any  were  demanded  he  should  pay  none  ;  and  of  this  I  thought  it 
but  my  part  to  acquaint  your  lordship  ;  not  that  I  would  aggravate 
any  thing  against  sir  David  Foulis,  for  it  might  only  be  some  mis- 
prision in  tlie  constable,  but  that  your  lordship  might  know  of  the 
least  passage  which  may  have  relation  or  reflection  upon  yoursel.." 


88  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

them,  yet  he  may  not,  till  the  end  of  the  next  term."^ 
Weston  did  not  receive  this  hint  at  first  very  cordially  ; 
but  Cottington,  another  of  the  judges,  wrote  to  him  a 
week  or  two  after  he  had  quitted  London, — "  We  say 
here  that  your  lordship's  cause  against  Foulis  shall  come 
to  hearing  this  term,  and  I  inquire  much  after  it." 
Wentworth,  though  then  much  distracted  by  sickness 
and  affairs,  acted  eagerly  on  this  intimation,  and  sent 
over  a  special  messenger  to  Cottington,  with  a  short  brief 
of  the  strong  points  of  the  case,  written  out  by  himself, 
and  an  extremely  characteristic  letter.  He  says  boldly, 
— "  I  must  wholly  recommend  myself  to  your  care  of  me 
in  this,  which  I  take  to  concern  me  as  much,  and  to  have 
therein  as  much  the  better,  as  I  ever  had  in  any  other 
cause  all  the  days  of  my  life ;  so  I  trust  a  little  help  will 
serve  the  turn."  It  is  clear,  in  point  of  fact,  that  Went- 
worth felt  that  much  of  his  authority,  in  so  far  as  personal 
claims  sustained  it — or,  in  other  words,  that  much  of  his 
probable  success  or  non-success  in  the  new  and  desperate 
assumptions,  by  which  alone  his  schemes  of  government 
could  be  carried  on — was  concerned  in  the  extent  of 
punishment  awarded  in  the  present  case,  and  the  corre- 
sponding impression  likely  to  be  created.  He  omits  no 
consideration  in  his  letter,  therefore,  that  is  in  any  way 
likely  to  influence  Cottington.  He  points  out  particularly 
how  much  the  ''king's  service"  is  concerned,  and  that 
the  arrow  was  "shot  at  him"  in  reality.  "The  sen- 
tencing of  this  man,"  he  continues,  "  settles  the  right  of 
knighting  business  bravely  for  the  crown,  for  in  your 
sentence  you  will  certainly  declare  the  undoubted  right 
and  prerogative  the  king  hath  therein  by  common  law, 
statute  law,  and  the  undeniable  practice  of  all  times ; 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  91. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  89 

and  therefore  I  am  a  suitor  by  you  to  his  majesty,  that 
he  would  be  graciously  pleased  to  recommend  the  cause 
to  the  lords,  as  well  in  his  own  right,  as  in  the  right  of 
his  absent  poor  servant,  and  to  wish  them  all  to  be  there. 
You  are  like  to  begin  the  sentence,  and  I  will  be  bold  to 
tell  you  my  opinion  thereon.  You  have  been  pleased 
sometimes,  as  I  sat  by  you,  to  ask  me  my  conceit  upon 
the  cause  then  before  us ; — admit  me  now  to  do  it  upon 
my  own  cause,  for,  by  my  troth,  I  will  do  it  as  clearly  as 
if  it  concerned  me  not."  An  aggravation  of  every  point 
in  tlie  case  against  Foul  is  and  his  son  follows,  with  a 
curious  citation  of  a  number  of  precedents  for  a  heavy 
punishment,  and  a  strong  personal  appeal  in  behalf  of 
his  own  character.  "  Much  more  I  could  say,  if  I  were 
in  the  star  chamber  to  speak  in  such  a  cause  for  my  lord 
Cottington  :  but  I  will  conclude  with  this, — that  I  protest 
to  God,  if  it  were  in  the  person  of  another,  I  should  in  a 
cause  so  foul,  the  proof  so  clear,  fine  the  father  and  the 
son,  sir  David  and  Henry  Foulis,  in  2000/.  apiece  to  his 
majesty,  and  in  2000/.  apiece  damages  to  myself  for  their 
scandal ;  and  they  both  to  be  sent  down  to  York,  and 
there  publicly  at  York  assizes  next,  to  acknowledge  in 
the  face  of  the  ivhole  cou7ttry^  the  right  his  majesty  hath  to 
that  duty  of  knightings ;  as  also  the  wrong  he  hath  done 
me ;  humbly  craving  pardon  of  his  majesty,  and  express- 
ing his  sorrow  so  to  have  misrepresented  his  majesty's 
most  gracious  proceedings,  even  in  that  course  of  com- 
pounding, where  the  law  would  have  given  him  much 
more,  as  also  for  so  falsely  slandering  and  belying  me 
without  a  cause.  For  sir  Thomas  Layton,  he  is  a  fool, 
led  on  by  the  nose  by  the  two  former,  nor  was  I  willing 
to  do  him  any  hurt ;  and  so  let  him  go  for  a  coxcomb  as 
he  is;  and  when  he  comes  home,  tell  his  neighbours,  it 


90  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Was  well  for  him  he  had  less  wit  than  his  fellows."  ^  As 
the  hearing  approached  more  nearly,  Wentworth,  regard- 
less of  the  equivocal  reception  Weston  had  formerly  given 
him,  wrote  again  to  the  lord  treasurer.  "  My  lord,  I  have 
to  be  heard  this  term  a  cause  between  sir  David  Foulis 
and  me  in  the  star  chamber ;  and  a  very  good  one,  if  I 
flatter  not  myself  exceedingly :  I  do  most  earnestly 
beseech  your  lordship's  presence,  and  that  I  may  taste  of 
the  ordinary  effects  of  your  justice  and  favour  towards 
me  your  faithful  servant,  albeit  here  removed  in  another 
kingdom."  2  Scarcely  a  member  of  that  considerate 
court  did  he  fail  to  solicit  as  earnestly. 

How  could  the  honest  judges  fail  to  perform,  all  that 
had  been  so  asked  of  them  ?  Foulis  was  degraded  from 
his  various  offices;  fined  5000/.  to  the  king,  3000/.  to 
Wentworth ;  condemned  to  make  a  public  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  most  abject  submissiveness  "to  his  majesty 
and  the  lord  viscount  Wentworth,  not  only  in  this  court, 
but  in  the  court  of  York,  and  likewise  at  the  open  assizes 
in  the  same  county ; "  and,  finally,  committed  to  the 
Fleet  during  his  majesty's  pleasure  !  His  son  was  also 
imprisoned  and  heavily  fined.  Layton,  the  "  fool,"  was 
presented  with  his  acquittal.  Wentworth's  gratitude  at 
this  result  overflowed  in  the  most  fervent  expressions  to 
his  serviceable  friends.  Cottington  was  warmly  thanked. 
"  Such  are  your  continued  favours  towards  me,"  he  wrote 
to  Laud,  "  which  you  were  pleased  to  manifest  so  far  in 
the  star  chamber,  in  that  cause  betwixt  sir  David  Foulis 
and  me,  not  only  by  your  justice,  but  by  your  affection 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  145,  146.  A  more  remarkable 
opportunity  was  reserved  for  him,  on  the  occasion  of  his  own  im- 
peachment, to  express  his  contempt  of  this  sir  Thomas  Layton.  See 
Rush  worth,  vol.  viii.  p.  151. 

2  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  143. 


BROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  91 

too,  as  indeed,  my  lord,  the  best  and  greatest  return  I 
can  make,  is  to  pray,  I  may  be  able  to  deserve,"  &c.  A 
long  despatch  to  Cooke  included  an  expression  of  the 
*'  obligation  put  upon  me  by  the  care  you  expressed  for 
me  in  a  suit  this  last  term,  which  came  to  a  hearing  in 
the  star  chamber,  betwixt  sir  D.  Foulis  and  me,  and  of 
the  testimony  your  affection  there  gave  me,  much  above 
my  merit.  Sir,  I  humbly  thank  you,"  &c.  &c.  A  still 
more  important  and  weighty  despatch  to  Weston  closed 
with — "  I  do  most  humbly  thank  your  lordship  for  your 
noble  presence  and  justice  in  the  star  chamber ;  being 
the  business  indeed,  in  my  own  estimation,  which  more 
concerned  me  than  any  that  ever  befel  me,  hitherto,  in 
my  whole  Hfe."  And  to  his  cousin  the  earl  of  Cleveland 
he  thus  expressed  himself; — "  I  understand  my  cause  in 
the  star  chamber  hath  had  a  fair  evening :  for  which  I 
am  ever  to  acknowledge  and  reverence  the  justice  of  that 
great  court  to  an  absent  man.  Your  lordship  hath  still 
been  pleased  to  honour  me  with  your  presence,  when 
any  thing  concerned  me  there :  and  believe  me,  if  ever  I 
be  absent  from  the  place  where  I  may  serve  you,  it  shall 
be  most  extremely  against  my  will.  I  see  it  must  still 
be  my  fortune  to  work  it  out  in  a  storm,  and  I  find  not 
myself  yet  so  faint,  as  to  give  over  for  that,  or  to  abandon 
a  good  cause,  be  the  wind  never  so  loud  or  sour."  One 
characteristic  circumstance  remains  to  be  added.  All 
the  various  letters  and  despatches  in  which  the  passages 
I  have  quoted  are  to  be  found,  together  with  others  to 
various  noble  lords,  bear  the  same  date}  No  one  of 
those  who  had  served  Wentworth,  was  left  to  speak  of 
thanks  that  he  only  had  received.^ 

^  See  the  Strafford  Papers,  vol,  i,  pp.  189.  194.  202.  204,  &c.  &c. 

2  I  may  conclude  the  mention  of  this  Foulis  affair  by  quoting  a 

characteristic  note  from  one  of  Wentworth's  voluminous   private 


92 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


In  relief  from  this  painful  exhibition,  of  a  false  public 
principle  tyrannizing  over  private  morals  and  affections, 
I  turn  to  present  the  somewhat  redeeming  aspect  of 
those  uncontrolled  regards  which  Wentworth  could  yet 
suffer  himself  to  indulge.  In  consequence  of  incessant 
application^  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  he  was  now  able 
to  pass  little  of  his  time  at  the  family  seat;  but  he  seems 
to  have  been  anxious  that  his  children,  William,  and  the 
little  lady  Anne,  should,  for  health's  sake,  continue  to 
reside  there.  He  had  entrusted  them  accordingly  to  the 
charge  of  sir  William  Pennyman,  a  person  bound  to  his 
service  by  various  strong  obligations.^    The  lady  Arabella, 

despatches  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Greenwoode.  After  instructions  of 
various  sorts  respecting  his  personal  affairs  in  Yorkshire,  which 
occupy  eight  closely  printed  folio  pages,  the  lord  deputy  subjoins  : — 
"  One  word  more  I  must  of  necessity  mention,  that  is,  the  business 
betwixt  me  and  sir  David  Foulis.  How  this  stands  I  know  not : 
but  I  pray  you  inform  yourself  what  lands  I  have  received  the  rents 
of  by  virtue  of  the  extent,  and  what  money  Richard  Marris  has 
received  towards  my  3000/.  damages  and  costs  of  suit  ;  and  that  you 
will  cause  a  perfect  and  half  year's  account  to  be  kept  of  all  the  dis- 
bursements and  receipts  concerning  this  matter  in  a  book  precisely 
by  itself.  I  beseech  you  set  this  business  in  a  clear  and  certain 
course,  for  you  may  be  sure,  if  any  advantage  or  doubt  can  be  raised, 
I  shall  be  sure  to  hear  of  it." — Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  488. 
Letter  from  Dublin,  dated  Nov.  1635. 

^  His  friends  were  constantly,  but  vainly,  warning  him  of  the 
dangers  he  incurred  by  this.  "I  long,"  writes  his  friend  Main- 
waring  to  him,  "to  hear  of  my  lady's  safe  delivery,  and  of  your 
lordship's  coming  up.  .  .  Your  lordship  must  give  me  leave  to  put 
you  in  mind  of  your  health,  for  I  hear  you  take  no  recreation  at  all." 
— Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  54. 

^  This  person  afterwards  played  his  part  at  the  impeachment.  It 
may  be  worth  while  to  quote  a  passage  from  one  of  his  letters,  written 
at  the  period  referred  to  in  the  text,  in  illustration  of  the  means 
which  Wentworth  employed  to  engage,  as  deeply  as  possible,  the 
devotion  of  men  who  promised  to  be  useful  to  him.  "  For  my  own 
pai-t,"  writes  Pennyman  to  the  lord  president,  "  I  hope  shortly  to 
pay  my  composition,  and  I  wish  I  could  as  easily  satisfy  your  debt, 
and  compound  with  your  lordship,  as  I  can  with  the  king.  But  it 
is  a  thing  impossible.  My  best  way,  I  think,  is  to  do  like  the 
painter,  who,  when  after  a  great  deal  of  pains  he  could  not  describe 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  93 

then  on  the  eve  of  confinement,  remained  with  Went- 
worth.  Pennyman  appears  to  have  had  careful  instruc- 
tions to  write  constant  accounts  of  the  children,  and  it  is 
interesting  to  observe  the  sort  of  details  that  were  thought 
likely  to  prove  most  welcome  to  their  father.  "  Now," 
he  says,  "  to  write  that  news  that  I  have,  which  I  presume 
will  be  most  acceptable,  your  lordship's  children  are  all 
very  well,  and  your  lordship  need  not  fear  the  going 
forward  of  your  building,  when  you  have  so  careful  a 
steward  as  Mrs.  Anne.  She  complained  to  me  very 
much  of  two  rainy  days,  which,  as  she  said,  hinder'd  her 
from  coming  down,  and  the  building  from  going  up, 
because  she  was  inforced  to  keep  her  chamber,  and  could 
not  overlook  the  workmen."  ^  This  important  little 
maiden,  then  between  three  and  four  years  old,  had 
certainly  inherited  the  spirit  of  the  Wentworths  !  "  Mr. 
William  and  Mrs.  Anne,"  Pennyman  writes  on  another 
occasion,  "are  very  well.  They  were  not  a  little  glad  to 
receive  their  tokens,  and  yet  they  said,  they  would  be 
more  glad  to  receive  your  lordship  and  their  worthy 
mother.  We  all,  with  one  vote,  agreed  in  their  opinion, 
and  wished,  that  your  lordship's  occasions  might  be  as 
swift  and  speedy  in  their  despatch  as  our  thoughts  and 
desires  are  in  wishing  them."  ^  At  the  commencement 
of  163 1,  Wentworth's  second  son  was  born.  This  child, 
Thomas    Wentworth,    after   eight   months    of  uncertain 


the  infinite  sorrow  of  a  weeping  father,  presented  him  on  a  table 
with  his  face  covered,  that  the  spectators  might  imagine  that  sorrow 
which  he  was  not  able  to  express.  My  debt,  like  his  sorrow,  is  not 
to  be  described,  much  less  my  thanks  and  acknowledgments.  Yet 
give  me  leave  to  tell  your  lordship,  that  there  is  not  one  alive  that 
more  honours  you  than  your  lordship's  most  faithful  and  indebted 
servant." — Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  56. 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  55.  2  \\;^^^  p,  ^7^ 


^4  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

health,  died.  At  about  this  time  the  services  of  the  lord 
president  seem  to  have  been  urgently  required  in  London, 
and  Weston  wrote  to  him  entreating  his  immediate  pre- 
sence.^ The  health  of  the  lady  Arabella,  however,  who 
was  again  near  the  period  of  confinement,  was  now  an 
object  of  deep  anxiety  to  Wentworth,  and  he  remained 
with  her  in  Yorkshire.  In  October,  a  second  daughter, 
the  young  Arabella,  was  born  to  him,  and  within  the 
same  month,  on  a  Tuesday  morning,  says  Radcliffe,  "his 
dear  wife,  the  lady  Arabella  died.^  I  took  this  earl  out 
of  bed,  and  carried  him  to  receive  his  last  blessing  from 
her."^  Wentworth  deeply  felt  her  loss,  and  never,  at 
any  time,  through  his  after  life,  recalled  her  beauty,  her 
accomplishments,  or  her  virtue,  without  the  most  tender 
enthusiasm. 

Some  days  after  this  sad  event,  Wentworth  received 
intelligence  from  his  friend  and  relation,  sir  Edward 
Stanhope,  of  certain  intrigues  which,  during  his  absence, 
had  been  moving  against  him  in  the  court  at  London. 
*'  I  received  your  letter,"  he  writes  back,  "  by  which  I 
perceive  you  have  me  in  memory,  albeit  God  hath  taken 

1  "I  hope,"  writes  the  lord  treasurer,  "this  bearer  will  find  you 
well,  well  disposed,  and  the  better,  enduring  so  prudently  as  I  hear 
you  do,  the  loss  of  your  younger  son.  We  are  glad  here  to  hear  you 
are  in  so  good  a  temper,  and  that  you  receive  it  as  a  seasoning  of 
human  felicity,  which  God  often  sends  where  he  loves  best ;  but  you 
need  none  of  my  philosophy  ;  and  therefore  this  is  only  to  remember 
you  of  being  here  in  the  beginning  of  the  term,  according  to  your 
promise,  and  I  intreat  you  to  think  it  necessary  to  make  haste.  We 
want  you  now  for  your  counsel  and  help  in  many  things." — Strafford 
Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  58. 

2  Essay.  Mr.  Mac-Diarmid  and  other  writers  have  fallen  into  the 
error  of  supposing  that  she  died  after  the  birth  of  the  last  boy. 

2  Radcliffe  here  alludes,  "by  this  earl,"  to  the  boy  William,  who 
was  earl  of  Strafford  when  his  essay  was  written.  Mr.  Brodie 
whimsically  turns  it  into  sir  George  Radcliffe  carrying  Wentworth 
himself  out  of  bed  to  receive  his  wife's  last  blessing.  Brit.  Emp. 
vol.  iii.  p.  129. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


95 


from  me  your  noblest  cousin,  the  incomparable  woman 
and  wife  my  eyes  shall  ever  behold.  I  must  confess  this 
kindness  works  with  me  much.  After  some  allusions  to 
Stanhope's  intelligence,  he  proceeds :  "  Yet  truly,  I  can- 
not believe  so  ill  of  the  propounders,  both  because  in 
my  own  nature  I  am  the  man  least  suspicious  alive,  and 
that  my  heart  tells  me,  I  never  deserved  but  well  of  them, 
indeed  passing  well.  It  is  impossible  it  should  be  plotted 
for  my  ruin  ;  sure  at  least  impossible  I  can  think  so ;  and 
if  there  can  be  such  mischief  in  the  world,  then  is  this 
confidence  given  me  as  a  snare  by  God  to  punish  me  for 
my  sins  yet  further,  and  to  draw  me  yet  more  immediately 
and  singly  to  look  up  to  him,  without  leaving  me  any 
thing  below  to  trust  or  look  to.  The  worst  sure  that  can 
be  is,  with  honour,  profit,  and  contentment,  to  set  me  a 
little  further  off  from  treading  upon  any  thing  themselves 
desire, — which  granted,  I  am  at  the  height  of  my  am- 
bitions, brought  home  to  enjoy  myself  and  friends,  to 
leave  my  estate  free  and  plentiful  to  your  little  cousin, 
and  which  is  more  than  all  this,  quietly  and  in  secret  to 
serve  my  Maker,  to  commune  with  him  more  frequently, 
more  profitably,  I  trust,  for  my  soul  than  formerly."  i 

Of  short  duration  was  this  composed  attitude  of  mind  ! 
The  ink  was  scarcely  dry  upon  his  letter  when  he  re- 
appeared in  his  court  at  York,  pursued  with  startling 
energy  some  of  his  most  resolute  measures,  and  re-assured 
his  master  in  London  of  the  invaluable  nature  of  his 
services,  by  sundry  swellings  of  the  royal  revenue. 
Money,  the  main  nerve  that  was  to  uphold  the  projected 
system,  was  still  the  grand  object  of  Wentwoith's  care, 
and  money  he  sent  to  Charles.  The  revenue,  which,  on 
his  succeeding  to  the  presidency  of  York,  he  had  found 
1  Strafiford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  6i. 


96  BROWNING'S  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD. 

no  more  in  amount  than  2000/.  a  year,  he  had  already 
raised  to  an  annual  return  of  9500/.^ 

Still,  however,  intriguers  were  busy  against  him,  and 
a  rumour  was  conveyed  by  them  to  Weston's  ear,  that  he 
had  resolved  to  use  his  notoriously  growing  influence 
with  the  king,  to  endeavour  to  win  for  himself  the  staff 
of  the  lord  treasurer.  The  trusty  Wandesford  discovered 
this,  and  despatched  the  intelligence  to  Went  worth.  The 
next  courier  from  Yorkshire  brought  a  packet  to  Weston. 
"  Let  shame  and  confusion  then  cover  me,"  ran  the 
characteristic  letter  it  enclosed,  *'  if  I  do  not  abhor  the 
intolerable  anxiety  I  well  understand  to  wait  inseparably 
upon  that  staff,  if  I  should  not  take  a  serpent  as  soon  into 
my  bosom,  and, — if  I  once  find  so  mean  a  thought  of  me 
can  enter  into  your  heart,  as  that  to  compass  whatever  I 
could  take  most  delight  in,  I  should  go  about  beguilefully 
to  supplant  any  ordinary  man  (how  much  more  then 
impotently  to  catch  at  such  a  staff,  and  from  my  lord 
treasurer) — if  I  leave  not  the  court  instantly,  betake 
myself  to  my  private  fortune^  reposedly  seek  my  con- 
tentment and  quiet  within  my  own  doors,  and  follow  the 
dictamen  of  my  own  reason  and  conscience,  more  accord- 
ing to  nature  and  liberty,  than  in  those  gyves,  which  now 
pinch  and  hang  upon  me.  Thus  you  see  how  easily  you 
may  be  rid  of  me  when  you  list,  and  in  good  faith  with  a 
thousand  thanks  :  yet  be  pleased  not  to  judge  this  pro- 
ceeds out  of  any  wayward  weary  humour  in  me  neither; 
for,  my  endeavours  are  as  vigorous  and  as  cheerful  to 
serve  the  crown  and  you  as  ever  they  were,  nor  shall  you 
ever  find  them  to  faint  or  flasquer.  I  am  none  of  those 
soft  tempered  spirits  :  but  I  cannot  endure  to  be  mistaken, 
or  suffer  my  purer  and  more  intire  affections  to  be  soiled, 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  89,  90. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  97 

or  in  the  least  degree  prejudiced,  with  the  loathsome  and 
odious  attributes  of  covetousness  and  ambitious  falsehood. 
Do  me  but  right  in  this.  Judge  my  watches  to  issue  (as 
in  faith  they  do)  from  clearer  cisterns.  I  lay  my  hand 
under  your  foot,  I  despise  danger,  I  laugh  at  labour. 
Command  me  in  all  difficulties,  in  all  confidence,  in  all 
readiness.  No,  no,  my  lord,"  continued  Wentworth, 
lapsing  into  the  philosophic  tone  he  could  assume  so 
well,  "No,  no,  my  lord  !  they  are  those  sovereign  and 
great  duties  I  owe  his  majesty  and  your  lordship,  which 
thus  provoke  me  beyond  my  own  nature  rather  to  leave 
those  cooler  shades,  wherein  I  took  choicest  pleasure, 
and  thus  put  myself  with  you  into  the  heat  of  the  day, 
than  poorly  and  meanly  to  start  aside  from  my  obliga- 
tions, convinced  in  myself  of  the  most  wretched  ingrati. 
tude  in  the  whole  world.  God  knows  how  little  delight 
I  take  in  the  outwards  of  this  life,  how  infinitely  ill  satisfied 
I  am  with  myself,  to  find  daily  those  calm  and  quiet 
retirements,  wherein  to  contemplate  some  things  more 
divine  and  sacred  than  this  world  can  afford  us,  at  every 
moment  interrupted  thorough  the  importunity  of  the 
affairs  I  have  already.  To  heaven  and  earth  I  protest 
it,  it  grieves  my  very  soul ! "  ^  Weston's  suspicions, 
which,  had  he  known  Wentworth  better,  would  never  for 
a  moment  have  been  entertained,  could  not  but  sink 
before  such  language  as  this;  and  the  lord  president's 
speedy  arrival  in  London,  exploded  every  hostile  attempt 
that  still  lingered  about  the  court  against  him. 

Charles  was  now  remodelling  his  counsels.     The  ex- 
traordinary success  of  Wentworth's  northern  presidency 
had  inspired  him  with  new  hopes ;  his  coffers  had  been 
filled  without  the  hated  help  of  the  house  of  commons ; 
^  Straflford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  79,  80. 

II 


^8  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

and  that  prospect  of  independent  authority  which  he  ear- 
nestly entertained,  no  longer  seemed  distant  or  hopeless. 
A  conclusion  of  peace  with  France  and  Spain  favoured 
the  attempt.  He  offered  lord  Wentworth  the  government 
of  Ireland.  His  favourite  scheme  was  to  deliver  up  the 
three  divisions  of  the  kingdom  to  the  superintendence  of 
three  favourite  ministers,  reserving  to  himself  a  general 
and  not  inactive  control  over  all.  Laud  was  the  minister 
for  England,  and  the  affairs  of  Scotland  were  in  the  hands 
of  the  marquess  of  Hamilton.  Ireland,  accepted  by 
Wentworth,  completed  the  proposed  plan. 

The  condition  of  Ireland,  at  this  moment,  was  in  the 
highest  degree  difficult  and  dangerous.  From  the  con- 
quest of  Henry  the  second  up  to  the  government  of 
Essex  and  Mountjoy,  her  history  had  been  a  series  o 
barbarous  disasters.  The  English  settlers,  in  a  succession 
of  ferocious  conflicts,  had  depraved  themselves  below  the 
level  of  the  uncivilized  Irish;  for,  instead  of  diffusing 
improvement  and  civilization,  they  had  obstructed  both. 
The  system  of  government  was  in  consequence  become 
the  mere  occasional  and  discretionary  calling  of  a  parlia- 
ment by  the  lord  deputy  for  the  time,  composed  entirely 
of  delegates  from  within  the  English  pale,  whose  duty 
began  and  closed  in  the  sanctioning  some  new  act  of 
oppression,  or  the  screening  some  new  offender  from 
punishment.  One  glimpse  of  a  more  beneficial  purpose 
broke  upon  Ireland  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  seventh, 
during  the  government  of  sir  Edward  Poynings,  who 
procured  a  decree  from  the  parliament,  that  all  the  laws 
theretofore  enacted  in  England  should  have  equal  force 
in  Ireland.  With  the  determination  of  destroying,  at  the 
same  time,  the  discretionary  power  that  had  been  used, 
of  summoning  and  dismissing  parliaments  at  pleasure, 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  99 

and  of  passing  sudden  laws  for  the  purpose  of  occasional 
oppressions,  sir  Edward  Poynings  procured  the  enactment 
of  his  famous  bill,  that  a  parliament  should  not  be 
summoned  above  once  a  year  in  Ireland,  nor  even  then, 
till  the  propositions  on  which  it  was  to  decide  had  been 
seen  and  approved  by  the  privy  council  of  England. 
But  the  native  Irish  chiefs  had  been  too  fiercely  hardened 
in  their  savage  distrust  of  the  English  to  reap  any  advan- 
tage from  these  measures.  They  retreated  to  their 
fastnesses,  and  only  left  them  to  cover  the  frontier  with 
outrage  and  bloodshed. 

Lord  Mountjoy  at  last  subdued  them,  released  the 
peasantry  from  their  control,  and  framed  a  plan  of 
impartial  government.  In  the  course  of  the  ensuing 
reign  new  settlements  of  English  were  accordingly  formed, 
the  rude  Irish  customs  were  discountenanced,  the  laws 
of  England  every  where  enforced,  courts  of  judicature 
established  after  the  English  model,  and  representatives 
from  every  part  of  the  kingdom  summoned  to  the  parlia- 
ment. When  England  herself,  however,  began  to  groan 
under  oppressions,  Ireland  felt  them  still  more  heavily, 
and  was  flung  back  with  a  greater  shock.  The  arbitrary 
decrees  of  Charles's  privy  council,  military  exactions,  and 
martial  law,  were  strangling  the  liberties  of  Ireland  in 
their  very  birth.  Bitter,  too,  in  its  aggravation  of  other 
grievances,  was  Irish  theological  discord.  The  large 
majority  of  papists,  the  sturdy  old  protestants  of  the 
pale,  the  new  settlers  of  James,  presbyterians,  and 
puritans, — all  were  in  nearly  open  warfare,  and  the 
penalties  enforced  against  recusants  were  equally  hateful 
to  all.  The  rigour  of  the  church  courts,  and  the 
exaction  of  tithes,  kept  up  these  discontents  by  constant 
exasperation. 


TOO  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Charles  sent  lord 
Falkland  to  Dublin.  His  lordship  soon  found  that  his 
government  was  Httle  more  than  the  name  of  one.  The 
army  had  gradually  sunk  to  1350  foot  and  200  horse; 
which  mean  force,  divided  into  companies,  was  com- 
manded by  privy  counsellors,  who,  managing  to  secure 
their  own  pay  out  of  the  receipts  of  the  exchequer, 
compounded  with  the  privates  for  a  third  or  fourth  part 
of  the  government  allowance  !  Insignificant  in  numbers, 
such  management  had  rendered  the  soldiers  ten  times 
more  inefficient,  and,  utterly  wanting  in  spirit  or  conduct, 
often,  indeed,  the  mere  menial  servants  of  the  officers, 
they  excited  only  contempt.  Over  and  over  again  lord 
Falkland  detailed  this  state  of  things  to  Charles,  and 
prayed  for  assistance;  but  the  difficulties  in  England, 
and  the  deficiencies  in  the  Irish  revenue,  united  to  with- 
hold it.  At  last,  however,  warned  by  imminent  dangers 
that  threatened,  the  king  announced  his  resolution  to 
augment  the  Irish  forces  to  5000  foot  and  500  horse, 
and,  unable  to  supply  the  necessary  charge  from  an 
empty  treasury,  he  commanded  the  new  levies  to  be 
quartered  on  the  different  towns  and  counties,  each  of 
which  was  to  receive  a  certain  portion  of  the  troops,  for 
three  months  in  turn,  and  to  supply  them  with  the 
required  necessaries.  Alarmed  by  this  project, — and 
justly  considering  a  great  present  sacrifice,  with  some 
chance  of  profit,  better  than  to  be  burthened  with  a  tax 
of  horrible  uncertainty,  which  yet  gave  them  no  reason- 
able reliance  for  the  future, — the  Irish  people  instantly 
offered  the  king  a  liberal  voluntary  contribution,  on 
condition  of  the  redress  of  certain  grievances.  Catholics 
and  protestants  concurred  in  this,  and  delegates  from 
both  parties  laid  the  proposal  before  the  king  himself,  in 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  loi 

London.  The  money  they  offered  first ;  in  the  shape  of 
a  voluntary  contribution  of  100,000/.,  the  largest  sum 
ever  yet  returned  by  Ireland,  and  to  be  paid  by  instal- 
ments of  10,000/.  a  quarter.  Their  list  of  grievances 
they  produced  next ;  desiring  relief  from  the  exactions  of 
courts  of  justice,  from  military  depredations,  from  trade 
monopolies,  from  the  religious  penal  statutes,  from  retro- 
spective inquiries  into  defective  titles  beyond  a  period  of 
sixty  years  ^,  and,  finally,  praying  that  the  concessions 
should  be  confirmed  by  an  Irish  parliament.  Some  of 
these  conditions  were  intolerable  to  Charles.  A  parlia- 
ment was  at  all  times  hateful  to  him,  and  scarcely  less 
convenient  than  the  absence  of  parliaments,  to  a  prince 
who  desired  to  be  absolute,  was  the  privilege  of  increasing 
the  royal  revenue,  and  obliging  the  minions  of  royalty, 
by  discovering  old  flaws  in  titles.  Glorious  had  been 
the  opportunity  of  escheating  large  possessions  to  the 
crown,  or  of  passing  them  over  to  new  proprietors ! 
Yet  here  was  a  present  offer  of  money,  an  advantage 
not  to  be  foreborne  —  whereas,  so  convenient  was 
Charles's  moral  code,  an  assent  to  obnoxious  matters 
was  a  thing  to  be  withdrawn  at  the  first  convenient 
opportunity,  and  evaded  at  any  time.  The  ''graces," 
as  the  concessions  were  called,  were  accordingly  pro- 
mised to  be  acceded  to ;  instalments  of  the  money 
were  paid ;  and  writs  were  issued  by  lord  Falkland 
for  a  parliament. 

The  joyful  anticipations  raised  in  consequence  soon 
received  a  check.  The  writs  were  declared  void  by  the 
English   council,  in  consequence  of  the   provisions  of 

1  It  had  been  usual  to  dispossess  proprietors  of  estates,  for  defects 
in  their  tenures  as  old  as  the  original  conquest  of  Ireland  !  No  man 
was  secure  at  his  own  hearth-stone.  See  Leiand,  vol.  ii.  pp.  466 
— 468. 


102  BROWNINGS  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD. 

Poynings's  law^  not  having  been  attended  to  by  lord 
Falkland,  who  was  proved  to  have  issued  the  writs  on 
his  own  authority,  without  having  previously  transmitted 
to  England  a  certificate  of  the  laws  to  be  brought  forward 
in  the  proposed  parliament,  with  reasons  for  enacting 
them,  and  then,  as  he  ought  to  have  done,  waited  for 
his  majesty's  licence  of  permission  under  the  great  seal. 
Still  the  people  thought  this  a  casual  error,  and  they 
waited  in  confidence  of  its  remedy.  The  Roman  catholic 
party,  meanwhile,  encouraged  by  the  favourable  reception 
of  their  delegates  at  court,  and  elated  by  a  confidence  of 
protection  from  the  queen,  proceeded  to  act  at  once  in 
open  defiance  of  the  penal  statutes.  They  seized  churches 
for  their  own  worship,  thronged  the  streets  of  Dublin 
with  their  processions,  erected  an  academy  for  the 
religious  instruction  of  their  youth,  and  reinforced  their 
clergy  by  supplies  of  young  priests  from  the  colleges  of 
France  and  Spain.  The  extreme  alarm  of  the  protestants 
at  these  manifestations,  induced  lord  Falkland  at  last  to 
issue  a  proclamation,  prohibiting  the  Roman  catholic 
clergy  from  exercising  any  control  over  the  people,  and 
from  celebrating  their  worship  in  public.  The  Roman 
catholics,  incensed  at  this  step,  now  clamoured  for  the 
promised  graces  and  parliament ;  the  protestants  had  too 
many  reasons  to  join  them  in  the  demand ;  and  both 
parties  united  in  declaring  that  payment  of  the  contribu- 
tion, under  present  circumstances,  was  an  intolerable 
burthen.  In  vain  lord  Falkland  offered  to  accept  the 
payment  in  instalments  of  5000/.,  instead  of  10,000/.,  a 
year;  the  discontents  daily  increased,  and,  in  the  end, 
drove  the  lord  deputy  from  power.     Lord  Falkland,  the 

^  These  provisions  had  received  additional  ratification  by  subse- 
quent statutes,  the  3d  and  4th  of  Philip  and  Mary. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  103 

object  of  censure  that  should  have  fallen  elsewhere, 
returned  to  England. 

A  temporary  administration,  consisting  of  two  lords 
justices ;  the  one,  lord  chancellor,  viscount  Ely,  and  the 
other,  lord  high  treasurer,  the  earl  of  Cork ;  was  formed. 
Both  these  noblemen  were  zealously  opposed  to  the 
Roman  catholics,  and  instantly,  without  waiting  the 
king's  orders,  commenced  a  rigorous  execution  of  the 
penal  statutes  against  recusants.  An  intimation  from 
England  of  the  royal  displeasure,  threw  some  shadow 
over  these  proceedings,  but  not  till  the  opposition  they 
had  strengthened  had  succeeded  in  suppressing  the 
academy  and  religious  houses  which  had  been  erected 
by  the  Roman  catholics  in  Dublin.  To  complete  the 
difficulties  of  the  present  state  of  affairs,  the  termination 
of  the  voluntary  contribution  now  fast  approached,  and 
the  temper  of  all  parties  left  any  hope  of  its  renewal  more 
than  desperate. 

Imminent,  then,  was  the  danger  which  now  beset  the 
government  of  Ireland.  Without  the  advantage  of  in- 
ternal strength,  it  had  no  prospect  of  external  aid.  The 
treasury  in  England  could  not  afford  a  farthing  to  increase 
the  army,  the  money  designed  for  that  purpose  had  been 
swallowed  up  in  more  immediate  necessities,  and  the 
army  sank  daily  into  the  most  miserable  inefficiency. 
Voluntary  supply  was  out  of  the  question,  and  compulsory 
exactions,  without  the  help  of  soldiers,  still  more  ridicu- 
lously vain.  In  the  genius  of  the  lord  president  of  the 
north,  Charles  had  one  hope  remaining.^ 

1  Ample  authorities  for  this  rapid  summary  of  Irish  affairs  will  be 
found  in  Leland's  History,  vol,  ii.  p.  107.  to  the  end,  and  vol.  iii. 
pp.  I — 10.  ;  edition  of  1733.  I  have  also  availed  myself  of  Mr. 
Mac-Diarmid's  account,  Lives  of  British  Statesmen,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
125—135. 


104  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Wentworth  received  his  commission  in  the  early  months 
of  1632.  He  resolved  to  defer  his  departure,  however, 
till  he  had  informed  himself  fully  of  the  state  of  his 
government,  and  fortified  himself  with  all  the  authorities 
that  should  be  needful.  The  energy,  the  prudence,  the 
various  powers  of  resource,  with  which  he  laboured  to 
this  end,  are  only  to  be  appreciated  by  an  examination 
of  the  original  documents,  which  still  remain  in  evidence 
of  all.^  They  were  most  extraordinary.  The  first  thing 
he  did  was  to  procure  an  order  from  the  king,  in  restric- 
tion of  the  authority  of  the  government  of  lords  justices, 
during  his  own  absence  from  Dublin.^  In  answer,  then, 
to  various  elaborate  congratulations  from  the  officers  of 
the  Irish  government,  he  sent  back  cold,  but  peremptory, 
requests  for  information  of  their  various  departments. 
The  treasury  necessities,  and  means  of  supply,  were  his 
primary  care.  The  lords  justices  declared  that  the  only 
possible  resource,  in  that  respect,  was  to  levy  rigorously 
the  penalties  imposed  by  statute  on  the  Roman  catholics, 
for  absence  from  public  worship.  The  cabinet  in  London, 
powerless  of  expedient,  saw  no  chance  of  avoiding 
this,  when  lord  Cottington  received  from  York  one  of 
Wentworth's  vigorous  dispatches. 

*'  Now,  my  lord,"  reasoned  the  new  lord  deputy,  *'  I  am 
not  ignorant  that  what  hath  been  may  happen  out  again, 
and  how  much  every  good  Englishman  ought,  as  well  in 

^  See  the  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  61 — 97. 

^  Id.  ibid.  p.  (yTf.  After  intimating  to  the  lords  justices  Went- 
worth's appointment,  the  royal  order  proceeds  ; — *'  We  have,  there- 
fore, in  the  mean  time  thought  fit  hereby  to  require  you  not  to  pass 
any  pardons,  offices,  lands,  or  church  livings  by  grant  under  our 
great  seal  of  that  our  kingdom  ;  nor  to  confer  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood upon  any,  or  to  dispose  of  any  company  of  horse  or  foot  there  : 
only  you  are  required  in  this  interim  to  look  to  the  ordinary  admin- 
istration of  civil  justice,  and  to  the  good  government  of  our  subjects 
and  army  there," 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  105 

reason  of  state  as  conscience,  to  desire  that  kingdom 
were  well  reduced  to  conformity  of  religion  with  us  here 
— as,  indeed,  shutting  up  the  postern  gate,  hitherto  open 
to  many  a  dangerous  inconvenience  and  mischief,  which 
have  over-lately  laid  too  near  us,  exhausted  our  treasures, 
consumed  our  men,  busied  the  perplexed  minds  of  her  late 
majesty  and  all  her  ministers.  Yet,  my  lord,  it  is  a  great 
businessj  hath  many  a  root  lying  deep,  and  far  within 
ground ;  which  would  be  first  thoroughly  opened  before 
we  judge  what  height  it  may  shoot  up  unto,  when  it  shall 
feel  itself  once  struck  at,  to  be  loosened  and  pulled  up ; 
nor,  at  this  distance,  can  I  advise  it  should  be  at  all 
attempted,  until  the  payment  for  the  king's  army  be  else- 
where and  surelier  settled,  than  either  upon  the  voluntary 
gift  of  the  subjects,  or  upon  the  casual  income  of  the  twelve- 
pence  a  Sunday.  Before  this  fruit  grows  ripe  for  gather- 
ing, the  army  must  not  live  prcecario,  fetching  in  every 
morsel  of  bread  upon  their  swords'  points.  Nor  will  I 
so  far  ground  myself  with  an  implicit  faith  upon  the  all- 
foreseeing  providence  of  the  earl  of  Cork,  as  to  receive 
the  contrary  opinion  from  him  in  verbo  magistri ;  when  I 
am  sure  that  if  such  a  rush  as  this  should  set  that  king- 
dom in  pieces  again,  I  must  be  the  man  that  am  like  to 
bear  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  to  be  also  accountable  for 
the  success,  not  he.  Blame  me  not,  then,  where  it 
concerns  me  so  nearly,  both  in  honour  and  safety,  if  I 
much  rather  desire  to  hold  it  in  suspence,  and  to  be  at 
liberty  upon  the  place  to  make  my  own  election,  than 
thus  be  closed  up  by  the  choice  and  admission  of 
strangers,  whom  I  know  not,  how  they  stand  affected, 
either  to  me  or  the  king's  service.  Therefore  let  me 
beseech  you  to  consult  this  business  seriously  with  his 
majesty  and  with  my  lord   treasurer.     Admit  me  here, 


lo6  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

with  all  submission,  to  express  myself  upon  this  point ; 
and  finally,  be  pleased  to  draw  it  to  some  present  resolu- 
tion, which,  the  shortness  of  time  considered,  must 
instantly  be  put  in  action.  I  do  conceive,  then,  what 
difficulties,  nay,  what  impossibility  soever,  the  council  of 
Ireland  hath  pretended,  that  it  is  a  very  easy  work  to  con- 
tinue the  contribution  upon  the  country  for  a  year  longer^ 
which  ivill  be  of  infinite  advantage  to  his  majesty's  affairs  ; 
for  we  look  very  ill  about  us,  if  in  that  time  we  find  not 
the  means  either  to  establish  that  revenue  in  the  crown,  or 
raise  some  other  equivalent  thereunto.  And  this  we  gain, 
too,  without  hazarding  the  public  peace  of  the  subject  by 
any  new  apprehensions,  which  commonly  accompany 
such  fresh  undertakings,  especially  being  so  general  as  is 
the  twelvepence  upon  the  absentees."  The  despatch 
then  went  on  to  suggest,  that  the  very  representations  of 
the  lords  justices  might  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
pensing with  their  propositions, — and  to  draw  out,  for 
the  instruction  of  the  council,  a  succinct  plan  of  effecting 
this.i 

Distrustful,  notwithstanding,  of  the  energy  of  Cotting- 
ton  and  his  associates,  Wentworth  followed  his  despatch 
in  person,  arrived  in  London  2,  prevailed  with  the  council 
to  enter  into  his  design,  and  had  a  letter  immediately 
sent  off  to  the  lords  justices,  bitterly  complaining  of  all 
the  evils  they  had  set  forth,  of  the  impossibiHty  of  raising 
voluntary  supplies,  and  the  consequent  necessity  of 
exacting  the  penalties.  "  Seeing,"  added  the  king,  by 
Wentworth's  dictation,  "  Seeing  you  conceive  there  is  so 

1  See  Strafiford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  75 — 77. 

2  This  is  evident  from  a  subsequent  despatch  to  Cottington,  in 
which  he  reminds  him  that  the  resolution  I  am  about  to  describe 
was  taken  finally  "in  presence  of  the  treasurer,  your  lordship,  the 
secretary  Cooke,  and  myself."     Vol.  i.  p.  74. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD.  107 

much  difficulty  in  the  settlement  of  the  payments,  and 
considering  the  small  hopes  you  mention  in  your  letters 
of  further  improvement  there,  we  must  be  constrained^  if 
they  be  not  freely  and  thankfully  contittued,  to  streigthen 
our  former  graces  vouchsafed  during  those  contributions, 
and  7nake  use  more  strictly  of  our  legal  rights  and  profits 
to  be  employed  for  so  good  and  necessary  a  work." 
Leaving  this  letter,  with  other  secret  instructions,  to  work 
their  effects,  Wentworth  next  despatched  a  private  and 
confidential  agent  to  Ireland,  himself  a  Roman  catholic, 
to  represent  to  his  brethren  personally,  and  in  secret,  the 
lord  deputy's  regard  for  them,  his  willingness  to  act  as  a 
mediator  and  his  hope  that  a  moderate  voluntary  con- 
tribution might  be  accepted  in  release  of  their  heavy 
fines ; — in  one  word,  he  sent  this  person  ''  a  little  to  feel 
their  pulse  underhand."  ^  "  The  instrument  I  employed," 
Wentworth  afterwards  wrote  to  Cottington,  "  was  himself 
a  papist,  and  knows  no  other  than  that  the  resolution  of 
the  state  here  is  set  upon  that  course  [of  exacting  the 
recusant  fines],  and  that  I  do  this  privately,  in  favour 
and  well-wishing,  to  divert  the  present  storm ;  which  else 
would  fall  heavy  upon  them  all ;  being  a  thing  framed 
and  prosecuted  by  the  earl  of  Cork;  which  makes  the 
man  labour  it  in  good  earnest,  taking  it  to  be  a  cause 
pro  aris  et  focis."  The  first  thing  this  agent  discovered 
and  communicated  to  his  employer,  was  that  his 
temporary  representatives,  the  lords  justices,  were  seek- 
ing to  counteract  his  purpose,  and  had  utterly  neglected 
the  instructions  of  the  last  letter  that  had  been  despatched 
to  them  from  the  king.  With  characteristic  energy, 
Wentworth  seized  this  incident  for  a  double  purpose  of 
advantage. 

^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  73,  74. 


lo8  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

There  would  be  little  hazard  in  supposing  that  their 
lordships  of  Ely  and  Cork  were  indebted  to  the  extra- 
ordinary letter  from  which  I  shall  quote  the  opening 
passages,  for  the  strongest  sensation  their  official  lives  had 
known.  ''  Your  lordships,"  wrote  Wentworth,  "  hereto- 
fore received  a  letter  from  his  majesty,  directed  to  your- 
selves alone,  of  the  14th  April  last;  a  letter  of  exceeding 
much  weight  and  consequence ;  a  letter  most  weightily 
and  maturely  consulted,  and  ordered  by  his  majesty 
himself;  a  letter  that  your  lordships  were  expressly  ap- 
pointed you  should  presently  cause  to  be  entered  in  the 
council  book,  and  also  in  the  signet  office;  to  the  end 
there  might  be  public  and  uniform  notice  taken  of  his 
majesty's  pleasure  so  signified  by  all  his  ministers,  and 
others  there,  whom  it  might  concern.  How  is  it,  then, 
that  I  understand  this  letter  hath,  by  your  lordships' 
order,  lain  ever  since  (and  still  doth,  for  anything  I 
know)  sealed  up  in  silence  at  the  council  table?  Not 
once  published  or  entered,  as  was  precisely  directed,  and 
expected  from  your  lordships !  copies  denied  to  all  men  ! 
and  yet  not  so  much  as  the  least  reason  or  colour  certified 
over  hither  for  your  neglect,  or  (to  term  it  more  mildly) 
forbearance,  to  comply  with  his  majesty's  directions  in 
that  behalf !  BeHeve  me,  my  lords,  I  fear  this  will  not 
be  well  taken,  if  it  come  to  be  known  on  this  side,  and 
in  itself  lies  open  enough  to  very  hard  and  ill  construction, 
reflecting  and  trenching  deeper  than  at  first  may  be 
apprehended.  And  pardon  me^  my  lords,  if  in  the  dis- 
charge of  my  own  duty  I  be  transported  beyond  my  natural 
modesty  and  77ioderation,  and  the  respects  I  personally  bear 
your  lordships,  plainly  to  let  you  know  I  shall  not  connive 
at  such  a  presumption  in  you,  thus  to  evacuate  my  master  s 
directions  ;  nor  contain  myself  in  silence,  seeing  them  before 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  109 

my  face  so  slighted^  or  at  least  laid  aside,  it  seems,  very 
little  regarded.  Therefore  I  must,  in  a  just  contempla- 
tion of  his  majesty's  honour  and  wisdom,  crave  leave  to 
advise  you  forthwith  to  mend  your  error  by  entering  and 
publishing  that  letter  as  is  commanded  you,  or  I  must, 
for  my  own  safety,  acquaint  his  majesty  with  all ;  and  I 
pray  God  the  keeping  it  close  all  this  while,  be  not,  in 
the  sequel,  imputed  unto  you  as  a  mighty  disservice  to 
his  majesty,  and  which  you  may  be  highly  answerable 
for."i  The  next  communication  from  his  popish  agent, 
informed  Wentworth  that  the  omissions  complained  of 
had  been  repaired,  and,  further,  that  all  parties  had 
agreed  to  "  continue  on  the  contribution  as  now  it  is," 
till  his  coming.  The  deputy  was  thus  left  to  complete, 
without  embarrassment,  his  already  meditated  financial 
projects ;  and  the  lords  justices,  with  their  friends,  had 
leisure  to  consider,  and  amene  themselves  to,  the  new 
and  most  peremptory  lord,  who  was  shortly  to  appear 
amongst  them  ! 

Ireland  was  hereafter  to  be  the  scene  of  an  absolute 
government, — the  government  of  a  comprehensive  mind, 
but  directed  to  a  narrow  and  mistaken  purpose.  The 
first  grand  object  of  Wentworth's  exertions,  was  to  be 
accomplished  in  rendering  the  king's  power  uncontrollable. 
Beyond  this  other  schemes  arose.  The  natural  advan- 
tages of  Ireland,  worked  to  the  purpose  of  her  own 
revenue,  might  be  further  pressed  to  the  aid  of  the 
English  treasury, — and  a  scheme  of  absolute  power 
successfully  established  in  Ireland,  promised  still  greater 
service  to  the  royalist  side  in  the  English  struggle. 

The  union  of  singular  capacity  with  the  most  deter- 
mined vigour  which  characterized  every  present  move- 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  77. 

VERSIT1 

ILIFORH^ 


no  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

ment  of  Wentworth,  while  it  already,  in  itself,  seemed  a 
forecast  of  vast  though  indefinable  success,  left  the  king 
no  objection  to  urge  against  any  of  the  powers  he 
demanded.  The  following  stipulations  were  at  once 
assented  to.  They  are  all  characteristic  of  Wentworth, 
of  his  sagacity  no  less  than  his  ambition.  They  open 
with  the  evident  assumption  that  the  debts  of  the  Irish 
establishment  will  soon  be  settled,  and  with  consequent 
cautious  exceptions  against  the  rapacity  of  those  numerous 
courtiers,  who  waited,  as  Wentworth  well  knew,  to  pounce 
upon  the  first  vacant  office,  or  even  the  first  vacant 
shilling.     The  lord  deputy  demanded — 

"  That  his  majesty  may  declare  his  express  pleasure, 
that  no  Irish  suit,  by  way  of  reward,  be  moved  for  by 
any  of  his  servants,  or  others,  before  the  ordinary  revenue 
there  become  able  to  sustain  the  necessary  charge  of 
that  crown,  and  the  debts  thereof  be  fully  cleared. — 
That  there  be  an  express  caveat  entered  with  the 
secretaries,  signet,  privy-seal,  and  great  seal  here,  that  no 
grant  of  what  nature  soever,  concerning  Ireland,  be 
suffered  to  pass  till  the  deputy  be  made  acquainted,  and 
it  hath  first  passed  the  great  seal  of  that  kingdom,  accord- 
ing to  the  usual  manner. — That  his  majesty  signify 
his  pleasure,  that  especial  care  be  taken  hereafter,  that 
sufficient  and  credible  persons  be  chosen  to  supply  such 
bishopricks  as  shall  fall  void,  to  be  admitted  of  his  privy 
council,  to  sit  as  judges,  and  serve  of  his  learned  council 
there ;  that  he  will  vouchsafe  to  hear  the  advice  of  his 
deputy  before  he  resolve  of  any  in  these  cases  ;  and  that 
the  deputy  be  commanded  to  inform  his  majesty  truly 
and  impartially,  of  every  man's  particular  diligence  and 
care  in  his  service  there,  to  the  end  his  majesty  may 
timely  and   graciously  reward   the   well    deserving,    by 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  m 

calling  them  home  to  better  preferments  here. — That 
no  particular  complaint  of  injustice  or  oppression  be 
admitted  here  against  any  unless  it  appear  the  party 
made  his  first  address  to  the  deputy. — That  no  confirm- 
ation of  any  reversion  of  ofiices  within  that  kingdom  be 
had,  or  any  new  grant  of  a  reversion  hereafter  to  pass. 
— That  no  new  office  be  erected  within  that  kingdom 
before  such  time  as  the  deputy  be  therewith  acquainted, 
his  opinion  first  required,  and  certified  back  accord- 
ingly.— That  the  places  in  the  deputy's  gift,  as  well 
of  the  civil  as  the  martial  list,  be  left  freely  to  his 
dispose ;  and  that  his  majesty  will  be  graciously  pleased 
not  to  pass  them  to  any  upon  suit  made  unto  him 
here."i 

Lord  Wentworth  further  required  and  obtained,  in 
the  shape  of  supplementary  private  propositions,  the 
following : — 

"That  all  propositions  moving  from  the  deputy  touch- 
ing matters  of  revenue  may  be  directed  to  the  lord 
treasurer  of  England,  without  acquainting  the  rest  of 
the  committee  for  Irish  affairs.^ — That  the  address  of 
all  other  dispatches  for  that  kingdom  be,  by  special 
direction  of  his  majesty,  appUed  to  one  of  the  secretaries 

^  I  have  already  alhided  to  the  limitation  under  which  this  pro- 
position was  acceded  to  by  the  king.  Charles  was  to  make  the 
grants  conditionally  to  the  applicants,  and  Wentworth  was  to  con- 
cede or  refuse  them  as  the  good  of  the  service  required.  "  Yet  so 
too,"  stipulated  the  king,  "as  I  may  have  thanks  howsoever;  that 
if  there  be  any  thing  to  be  denied,  you  may  do  it,  not  I." — Strafford 
Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  140. 

^  Reasons  are  subjoined  to  each  proposition.  As  a  specimen  I 
quote  from  the  few  lines  appended  to  the  above  : — "Thus  shall  his 
majesty's  profits  go  more  stilly  and  speedily  to  their  ends  without 
being  unseasonably  vented  as  they  pass  along  ;  and  the  deputy  not 
only  preserved  but  encouraged  to  deliver  his  opinion  freely  and 
plainly  upon  all  occasions,  when  he  is  assured  to  have  it  kept  secret 
and  in  few  and  safe  hands." 


112  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

singly.^ — That  the  lord  viscount  Falkland  be  required  to 
deliver  in  writing  in  what  condition  he  conceives  his 
majesty's  revenue  and  the  government  of  that  kingdom 
now  stand,  together  with  a  particular  of  such  designs 
for  advancing  his  majesty's  service,  as  were  either  un- 
begun or  unperfected  by  him  when  he  left  the  place, 
as  also  his  advice  how  they  may  be  best  pursued  and 
effected." 

Not  even  content  with  these  vast  and  extraordinary 
powers  and  precautions,  lord  Wentworth  engaged  for 
another  condition — the  most  potent  and  remarkable  of 
all — that  he  was  to  consider  them  changeable  on  the 
spot  whenever  the  advancement  of  his  majesty's  affairs 
required.  "Your  lordship  may  rest  assured,"  writes 
secretary  Cooke,  "  that  no  mediation  shall  prevail  with 
his  majesty  to  exempt  the  lord  Balfour  from  the  rest  of 
the  opposers  of  the  contributions,  but  that  he  will  be 
left  with  the  rest  to  the  censure  of  your  justice.  And  I 
am  persuaded^  that  in  this  and  all  the  rest  of  your  pro- 
ceedings for  his  service^  his  princely  resolution  will  support 
you,  if  the  rest  of  your  friends  here  do  their  duties  in  their 
true  representation  thereof  unto  him.  As  your  speedy 
passage  for  Ireland  is  most  necessary  for  that  govern- 
ment, so  your  safety  concerneth  his  majesty's  honour  no 
less  than  your  own.  It  is  therefore  found  reasonable, 
that  you  expect  captain  Plumleigh,  who,  with  this  fair 
weather,  will  come  about  in  a  short  time,  (so  as  it  may 
be  hoped)  he  will  prevent  your  coming  to  that  port, 
where  you  appoint  to  come  aboard.  Your  instructions 
{as  you  know)  as  well  as  the  establishment  are  changeable 
upon  occasions  for  advancement  of  the  affairs.     And  as 

^  "  This  I  will  have  done  by  secretary  Cooke,"  so  written  by  the 
king  himself  upon  the  original  paper. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  X13 

you  will  be  careful  not  to  change  without  cause,  so  when 
you  find  it  necessary,  his  majesty  will  cor^form  them  by 
his  wisdom  to  that  he  findeth  fit  upon  your  advice. 
For  my  service  in  any  thing  that  may  tend  to  further 
your  noble  ends,  besides  the  duty  of  my  place  and  trust, 
the  confidence  you  repose  in  me,  and  the  testimony  you 
give  thereof,  are  so  obligatory,  that  I  must  forget  myself 
much,  if  you  find  not  my  professions  made  good.  For 
the  Yorkshire  business,  in  the  castigation  of  those  mad  men 
and  fools  ^  which  are  so  apt  to  fall  upon  you,  that  course 
which  yourself,  the  lord  Cottington,  and  Mr.  attorney 
resolve  upon,  is  here  also  taken,  that  prosecution  may  be 
made  in  both  courts.  I  find  your  vice-president  a  young 
man  of  good  understanding  and  counsellable,  and  very 
forward  to  promote  his  majesty's  service.  ^  The  secretary 
is  also  a  discreet  well-tempered  man."  ^ 


1  These  "mad  men  and  fools  "  were  "sir  John  Bouchier  and  his 
complices,"  who  soon  received  their  most  unjust  judgment.  This 
passage  will  serve  to  prove  the  value  of  Wentworth's  answer  to  this 
matter,  also  urged  against  him  afterwards  on  his  impeachment. 
"For  the  sentence  against  sir  John  Bouchier,  the  defendant  was  not 
at  all  acquainted  with  it,  being  then  in  Ireland  ! " — See  Rushworth^ 
vol.  ii.  p.  161.  It  is  to  be  observed  at  the  same  time  that  the 
commons  had  not  the  advantage  of  the  present  evidence. 

^  Edward  Osborne  had  been  finally  chosen  by  Wentworth.  A 
passage  in  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  sir  William  Penny- 
man's  shows  that  the  latter  had  been  previously  thought  of  for  the 
office: — "My  servant  can  best  satisfy  your  lordship  of  the  good 
health  of  Mr.  William  and  Mrs.  Anne,  for  he  saw  them  both  before 
his  journey  ;  they  have  been  very  well,  and  I  trust  will  continue  so. 
I  am  most  willing,  I  wish  I  could  say  able  too,  to  be  your  lordship's 
vice-president,  but  the  defect  of  this  must  ho.  supplied  with  the 
surplusage  of  the  other." 

3  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  93.  The  allusion  to  lord  Balfour, 
with  which  the  above  despatch  opens,  requires  explanation.  Went- 
worth, who  had  already  possessed  himself  of  the  most  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  state  of  parties  and  disputes  in  his  new  govern- 
ment, had  written  thus  some  days  before  to  Cooke  : — "I  have  sent 
here  likewise  unto  you  a  letter  from  the  lords  justices,  together  with 
all  the  examinations  taken  of  the  lord  Balfour,  and  the  rest  which 

I 


114  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Wentworth,  notwithstanding  his  new  dignities,  had  re- 
solved not  to  resign  the  presidency  of  Yorkshire.  And 
here  we  see,  in  the  midst  of  his  extraordinary  preparations 
for  his  Irish  government,  he  had  yet  found  time  to  prose- 
cute every  necessary  measure  that  had  a  view  to  the 
security  of  his  old  powers  in  the  north.  We  gather 
from  this  letter  of  the  secretary  their  general  character. 
He  celebrated  his  departure  by  some  acts  of  vigorous 
power,  and  he  wrung  from  the  council  of  London  such 
amplifications  even  of  his  large  and  unusual  presi- 
dential commission,  as  might  compensate  for  the  failure 
of  personal  influence  and  energy  consequent  on  his  own 
departure.^     He  pressed  more  especially  for  the  settle- 


refused  the  contribution  in  the  county  of  Fermanagh,  by  all  which 
you  will  find  plainly  how  busy  the  sherifif  and  sir  William  Cole  have 
been  in  mutinying  the  country  against  the  king's  service  ;  and  I 
beseech  you  acquaint  his  majesty  therewithal,  and  for  the  rest  leave 
it  to  me  when  I  come  on  the  other  side,  and  believe  me,  I  will  teach 
both  them  and  others  better  grounds  of  duty  and  obedience  to  his 
majesty  than  they  have  shown  in  this  wanton  and  saucy  boldness  of 
theirs.  And  so  much  the  more  careful  must  we  be  to  correct  this 
peccant  humour  in  the  first  beginnings,  in  regard  this  is  a  great 
revenue,  which  his  majesty's  affairs  cannot  subsist  without ;  so  that 
we  must  either  continue  that  to  the  crown,  or  get  something  from 
that  people,  of  as  much  value  another  way ;  wherein  I  conceive  it 
most  necessary  to  proceed  most  severely  in  the  punishment  of  this 
offence,  which  will  still  all  men  else  for  a  many  years  after ;  and, 
therefore,  if  the  king  or  yourself  conceive  otherwise,  help  me  in 
time,  or  else  I  shall  be  sure  to  lay  it  on  them  soundly.  My  lord 
Balfour  excuseth  his  fault,  and  will  certainly  make  means  to  his 
majesty  for  favour,  wherein  under  correction,  if  his  juajesty  intend  to 
prosecute  the  rest,  I  conceive  it  is  clearly  best  for  the  service  to  leave 
him  entirely  to  riin  a  cojnfnon  forttme,  as  he  is  in  a  common  case  with 
the  rest  of  those  delinquents." — Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  87. 

^  The  obtaining  of  such  a  commission  formed  one  of  the  articles 
of  his  after  impeachment,  and  his  answer  was,  that  he  had  never  sat 
as  president  after  the  articles  were  framed.  But  he  did  not  deny 
that  the  power  they  vested  was  exercised  by  his  vice-president,  on 
the  lord-president's  behalf,  and  consequently  with  the  full  re- 
sponsibility of  the  latter.  His  instrumentality  in  obtaining  these 
instructions,  indeed,  was  not  directly  proved ;    but  it  was  proved 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  115 

ment  of  a  dispute  with  lord  Faulconberg  by  a  peremptory 
punishment  of  the  latter :  "  for  this  you  know,"  he  wrote 
to  the  secretary,  "  is  a  public  business,  and  myself  being 
to  leave  this  government  for  a  while,  desirous  to  settle 
and  establish  this  council  in  their  just  powers  and  credits, 

that  on  one  occasion  "the  president  fell  upon  his  knees  and  desired 
his  majesty  to  enlarge  his  powers,  or  that  he  might  have  leave  to  go 
home  and  lay  his  bones  in  his  own  cottage." — Rushworthy  vol.  ii.  p. 
161.  The  commission  was  granted  immediately  after.  Its  most 
terrible  article  was  that  which  in  every  case,  in  distinct  terms, 
wrested  from  the  subject  the  privilege  of  protection  in  Westminster 
Hall,  and  cut  him  off  from  any  share  in  the  rights,  poor  and  con- 
fined as  they  were,  of  the  rest  of  his  fellow  subjects.  During 
Went  worth's  absence  in  Ireland,  one  judge  of  the  exchequer,  Vernon, 
dared  to  move  in  defiance  of  these  monstrous  restrictions.  The  lord 
deputy  instantly  wrote  to  Cottington,  described  Vernon's  conduct, 
and  thus  proceeded  : — "If  this  were  not  a  goodly  example  in  the 
face  of  a  country  living  under  the  government  of  the  president  and 
council,  for  the  respect  and  obedience  due  to  the  authority  set  over 
them  by  his  majesty,  of  that  awful  reverence  and  duty  which  we  all 
owe  to  his  majesty's  declared  good  will  and  pleasure  under  the  great 
seal,  I  am  much  mistaken.  I  do,  therefore,  most  humbly  beseech 
'this  judge  may  be  con  vented  at  the  council  board,  and  charged  with 
these  two  great  misdemeanors  ;  which  if  he  deny,  I  pray  you  say 
openly  in  council  I  am  the  person  will  undertake  to  prove  them 
against  him,  and  withal  affirm  that  by  these  strange  extravagant 
courses  he  distracts  his  majesty's  government  and  affairs  more  than 
ever  he  will  be  of  use  unto  them,  and  that,  therefore,  I  am  a  most 
earnest  suitor  to  his  majesty  and  their  lordships,  that  he  be  not 
admitted  to  go  that  circuit  hereafter  ;  and,  indeed,  I  do  most  earnestly 
beseech  his  majesty  by  you,  that  we  may  be  troubled  no  more  wiih  such 
a  peevish  indiscreet  piece  of  flesh.  I  confess  I  disdain  to  see  the  gown- 
men  in  this  sort  hang  their  noses  over  the  flowers  of  the  crown,  blow 
and  snuffle  upon  them,  till  they  take  both  scent  and  beauty  off  them  ; 
or  to  have  them  put  such  a  prejudice  upon  all  other  sorts  of  men,  as  if 
none  were  able  or  worthy  to  be  intrusted  zvith  honour  and  administra- 
tion of  justice  but  themselves. "  This  is  surely  a  characteristic  betrayal 
of  Wentworth's  interest  in  the  powers  of  the  new  commission  ! 
Some  difficulties  appear  to  have  been  encountered  in  the  way  of  the 
course  he  proposed  against  this  judge,  for  we  find  him  at  a  subse- 
quent date  writing  thus  to  the  lord  treasurer: — "If  Mr.  justice 
Vernon  be  either  removed  or  amended  in  his  circuit,  I  am  very 
well  content,  being  by  me  only  considered  as  he  is  in  relation 
to  his  majesty's  service  in  those  parts, — the  gentleman  otherwise 
unknown  to  me  by  injury  or  benefit." — See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i. 
pp.  129.  295. 


Il6  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

which  is  fit  for  the  king's  service,  would  fain  see  ourselves 
righted  upon  this  arrogant  lord,  and  so  discipline  all  the 
rest  upon  his  shoulders,  as  I  might  well  hope  they  should 
exercise  their  jurisdiction  in  peace  during  the  time  of  my 
absence.^'' ^  Lord  Wentworth's  fiercest  prosecution  of 
apparent  personal  resentments  was,  in  all  cases,  the 
simple  carrying  out  of  that  despotic  principle  in  its 
length  and  breadth,  and  with  reference  to  its  ulterior 
aims,  which  had  become  the  very  law  of  his  being. 
In  this  point  of  view  only  can  they  be  justly  or 
intelligibly  considered.  The  cruelties  associated  with 
the  name  now  about  to  be  introduced,  have  their  ex- 
aggeration, or  their  excuse,  according  as  the  feelings  of 
the  reader  may  determine — but,  at  all  events,  have  their 
rational  and  philosophical  solution — in  this  point  of 
view  alone. 

The  lord  Mountnorris  held  at  this  time  the  office  of 
vice-treasurer,  which  in  effect  was  that  of  treasurer  of 
Ireland.  Clarendon  observes  of  him,  "He  was  a  man 
of  great  industry,  activity,  and  experience  in  the  affairs 
of  Ireland,  having  raised  himself  from  a  very  private 
mean  condition  (having  been  an  inferior  servant  to  lord 
Chichester)  to  the  degree  of  a  viscount,  and  a  privy 
counsellor,  and  to  a  very  ample  revenue  in  lands  and 
offices ;  and  had  always,  by  servile  flattery  and  sordid 
application,  wrought  himself  into  trust  and  nearness  with 
all  deputies  at  their  first  entrance  upon  their  charge, 
informing  them  of  the  defects  and  oversights  of  their 
predecessors ;  and  after  the  determination  of  their  com- 

^  A  note  subjoined  to  this  is  too  characteristic  to  be  omitted  : — 
"  There  is  like  to  be  a  good  fine  gotten  of  him  [lord  Faulconberg] 
for  the  king,  which,  considering  the  manner  of  his  life,  were 
wonderous  ill  lost ;  and  lost  it  will  be,  if  I  be  not  here:  therefore  I 
pray  you  let  me  have  my  directions  with  all  possible  speed." 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  117 

mands  and  return  into  England,  informing  the  state  here, 
and  those  enemies  they  usually  contracted  in  that  time, 
of  whatsoever  they  had  done  or  suffered   to  be  done 
amiss ;  whereby  they  either  suffered  disgrace  or  damage, 
as  soon  as  they  were  recalled  from  those  honours.     In 
this  manner  he  began  with  his   own   master,  the  lord 
Chichester ;  and  continued  the  same  arts  upon  the  lord 
Grandison,  and  the  lord  Falkland,  who  succeeded  ;  and, 
upon    that    score,   procured    admission   and    trust   with 
the  earl  of  Strafford,  upon  his   first  admission  to  that 
government."^     This  is  quoted  here,  for  the  purpose  of 
introducing  a  letter  of  Wentworth's,  which  was  written 
at  about  this  time,  and  which  appears  to  me  not  only 
to  corroborate  Clarendon's  account,  but  (in  opposition 
to  those  who  have  urged,  as  Mr.   Brodie  2,  that  Went- 
worth  began  his  official  connection  with  Mountnorris,  by 
"  courting  "  the  latter)  to  give  at  the  same  time  the  noble 
vice-treasurer  and  informer-general  fair  warning,  of  the 
character  and  intentions  of  the  lord  deputy  he  had  there- 
after to  deal  with.     Mountnorris  had  previously  allied 
himself  with  Wentworth  by  marriage  with  a  near  relative 
of  his  deceased  wife,  the  lady   Arabella.     ''  I  was  not 
a  little  troubled,"  runs   Wentworth's  letter,  "when  my 
servant,  returning  from  Dublin,  brought  back  with  him 
the  inclosed,  together  with  the  certainty  of  your  lordship's 
yet  abode  at  West-Chester.     I  have  hereupon  instantly 
despatched  this  footman,  expressly  to  find  you  out ;  and 
to  solicit  you,  most  earnestly,  to  pass  yourself  over  on 
the  other  side :  for   besides  that   the  monies  which   I 
expect  from  you  (which  I  confess  you  might  some  other 
ways  provide  for),  the  customs  there,  you  know  how 

^  Hist,  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i.  p.  175. 
2  Hist,  of  Brit.  Empire,  vol.  iii.  p,  70. 


Ii8  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

loose  they  lie ;  our  only  confidence  here  being  in  you.'* 
Several  other  details  are  pressed  with  great  earnestness. 
"Therefore,"  he  continues,  "for  the  love  of  God,  linger 
no  longer,  but  leaving  your  lady  with  my  lady  Cholmon- 
deley,  in  case  her  present  estate  will  not  admit  her  to 
pass  along  with  you, — I  will,  God  willing,  not  fail  to 
wait  on  her  ladyship  over  myself,  and  deliver  her  safe  to 
you  at  Dublin  : — the  rather  for  that  to  tell  your  lordship 
plainly,  which  I  beseech  you  keep  very  private  to  your- 
self, it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  despatch  the  king's 
business,  and  my  own,  and  get  hence  before  the  end  of 
November  at  the  soonest.  My  lord  Ranelagh  will  be 
here,  I  believe,  within  this  day  or  two ;  and,  in  regard  of 
his  and  my  lord  Dungarvan's  being  here  before,  I  hold 
it  fit  to  communicate  with  your  lordship  the  occasion, 
which  is  this, — that  there  being  a  proposition  made  to 
me  for  a  marriage  with  my  lord  of  Cork's  daughter  i,  I, 

^  This  lady,  whom  Wentworth  for  excellent  reasons  declined 
marrying,  afterwards  married  George  Goring,  son  of  the  earl  of 
Norwich.  This  was  the  lord  deputy's  management.  Some  eight 
or  nine  months  after  he  writes  to  the  earl  of  Carlisle  : — "  Young  Mr, 
Goring  is  gone  to  travel,  having  run  himself  out  8000/.,  which  he 
purposeth  to  redeem  by  his  frugality  abroad,  unless  my  lord  of  Cork 
can  be  induced  to  put  to  his  helping  hand,  which  I  have  undertaken 
to  solicit  for  him  the  best  I  can,  and  shall  do  it  with  all  the  power 
and  care  my  credit  and  wit  shall  anywise  suggest  unto  me.  In  the 
meantime  his  lady  is  gone  to  the  bath  to  put  herself  in  state  to  be 
got  with  child,  and  when  all  things  are  prepared,  she  is  like  to  want 
the  principal  guest.  Was  ever  willing  creature  so  disappointed  ? 
In  truth  it  is  something  ominous,  if  you  mark  it,  yet  all  may  do  well 
enough,  if  her  father  will  be  persuaded,  and  then  if  she  be  not  as 
well  done  to  as  any  of  her  kin,  Mr.  Goring  looseth  a  friend  of  me 
for  ever.  You  may  say  now,  if  you  will,  I  put  a  shrewd  task  upon 
a  young  man,  there  being  no  better  stuff  to  work  upon  ;  but  it  is 
the  more  charity  in  us  that  wish  it,  and  the  most  of  all  in  him  that 
shall  perform  it  en  bon  et  gentil  cavalier.''''  Such,  I  may  remark,  is 
the  (to  him  unusual)  tone  of  levity,  which  he  seldom  failed  to  employ 
in  writing  to  this  earl  of  Carlisle,  whose  wife,  the  famous  countess, 
had  secretly  become  his  mistress.  This  earl  died  in  1636.  The 
countess  will  be  spoken  of  shortly.  See  also  Strafford  Papers,  vol. 
ii.  p.  119. 


BROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


119 


that  had  no  thought  such  a  way,  did  nevertheless  move 
a  match,  betwixt  the  young  lord  and  my  lord  Clifford's 
daughter,  which  was  by  them  accepted  ;  and  so  he  comes 
now,  I  believe,  to  treat  further  of  this  matter  with  my 
lord  Clifford.  But  this  I  must  entreat  you  to  keep 
private ;  with  this,  that  albeit  the  house  of  Cumberland 
is  to  me,  as  all  the  world  knows  that  knows  me,  in  next 
esteem  to  my  own  family,  yet  be  you  well  assured,  this 
alliance  shall  not  decline  me  from  those  more  sovereign 
duties  I  owe  my  master,  or  those  other  faiths  I  owe  my 
other  friends."  Some  expressions  of  courtesy  are  then 
followed  by  this  remarkable  passage.  "  //  is  enough  said 
amongst  honest  men  ;  and  you  may  easily  believe  me  ;  but 
look  you,  be  secret  and  true  to  me,  and  that  no  suspicion 
possess  you ;  ivhich  else  in  time  may  turn  to  both  our 
disadvantages.  For  God's  sake  my  lord,  let  me  again  press 
your  departure  for  Ireland.  And  let  me  have  2000/.  of 
my  entertainment,  sent  me  over  with  all  possible  speed ; 
for  I  have  entered  fondly  enough  on  a  purchase  here  of 
14,000/.,  and  the  want  of  that  would  very  foully  disappoint 
me."  It  is  clear  to  me  in  this,  that  Wentworth  had  re- 
solved, from  the  first,  to  watch  Mountnorris  narrowly, 
and,  on  the  earliest  intimation  of  any  possible  renewal 
of  his  old  treacheries,  to  crush  him  and  them  for 
ever. 

Lady  Mountnorris  would  possibly  be  startled  in  hearing 
from  her  lord,  that  the  sorrowing  widower  of  the  lady 
Arabella  was  already  speaking  of  the  negotiation  of 
another  marriage.  The  entire  truth  would  have  startled 
her  still  more.  Lord  Wentworth  had  at  this  very  time, 
though  a  year  had  not  passed  since  the  death  of  his  last 
wife,  whom  he  appears  to  have  loved  with  fervent  and 
continuing  affection,  "married   Elizabeth,  the  daughter 


120  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

of  sir  Godfrey  '^^o^o.^, privately .''  Such  is  the  statement 
of  sir  George  Radcliffe. 

Since  RadcHffe  wrote,  however,  some  curious  letters 
relatmg  to  this  marriage  have  been  discovered  in  the 
Thoresby  museum.  Sir  George  says  that  the  marriage 
took  place  in  October.  I  am  now  about  to  quote  a  letter 
which  bears  the  date  of  October  in  the  same  year  (the 
30th),  and  which  goes  to  prove  that,  supposing  the  state- 
ment in  question  correct,  Wentworth  must  have  sent  the 
lady  off  to  a  distance  from  himself  immediately  after  the 
ceremony.  Nor  is  this  the  only  singular  circumstance 
suggested  by  this  letter.  Even  sir  George  Radcliffe, 
probably,  did  not  know  all. 

"  Madam,"  Wentworth  writes,  *'  I  have,  in  little,  much 
to  say  to  you,  and  in  short  terms  to  profess  that  which  I 
must  appear  all  my  life  long,  or  else  one  of  us  must  be 
much  to  blame.  But,  in  truth,  I  have  that  confidence  in 
you,  and  that  assurance  in  myself,  as  to  rest  secure  the 
fault  will  never  be  made  on  either  side.  Well^  then  ;  this 
little  and  this  much,  this  short  a?td  this  long,  which  I  aim 
at,  is  no  more  than  to  give  you  this  first  written  testimony, 
that  I  am  your  husband ;  and  that  husband  of  yours,  that 
will  ever  discharge  those  duties  of  love  and  respect  towards 
you  which  good  women  may  expect,  and  are  justly  due  from 
good  men  to  discharge  them,  with  a  hallowed  care  and  con- 
tinued perseverance  in  them :  and  this  is  not  only  much,  but 
all  which  belongs  me ;  and  wherein  I  shall  tread  out  the 
remainder  of  life  which  is  left  me.  More  I  cannot  say,  nor 
perform  much  more  for  the  present ;  the  rest  must  dwell  in 
hope  until  I  have  made  it  up  in  the  balance,  but  I  am  and 
must  be  no  other  than  your  loving  husband.''^   A  postscript  ^ 

^   "  If  you  will  speak  to  my  cousin  Radcliffe  for  the  paste  I  told 
you  on  for  your  teeth,  and  desire  him  to  speak  to  Dr.  Moore,  in  my 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  121 

closes  the  letter,  referring  to  some  paste  for  the 
teeth,  which  proves  that  the  lady  was  in  London. 
Wentworth  himself  was  at  York,  and,  it  is  evident  from 
his  letters,  had  not  quitted  the  county  during  the  whole 
of  that  month.  The  lady's  answer  to  this  letter  would 
seem  to  have  been  humbly  affectionate,  and  to  have 
conveyed  to  Wentworth  a  lowly  but  fervent  expression  of 
tliankfulness — for  that  her  new  husband  had  promised  not 
to  cast  her  off  as  a  deserted  mistress  !  His  reply  (dated 
about  a  fortnight  after  his  first  letter)  is  in  excellent 
spirit,  and  highly  characteristic  :  —  "  Dear  Besse,"  he 
begins,  with  the  encouragement  of  tender  words,  "  your 
first  lines  were  wellcum  unto  me,  and  I  will  keep  them, 
in  regard  I  take  them  to  be  full,  as  of  kindness,  so  of 
truth.  //  is  no  presu7iiption  for  you  to  write  unto  me; 
the  fellowship  of  marriage  ought  to  carry  with  it  more  of 
love  and  equality  than  any  other  apprehension.  Soe  I 
desire  it  may  ever  be  betwixt  us,  nor  shall  it  break  of 
my  parte.  Virtue  is  the  highest  value  we  can  set  upon 
ourselves  in  this  world,  and  the  chiefe  which  others  are 
to  esteem  us  by.  That  preserved,  we  become  capable 
of  the  noblest  impressions  which  can  be  imparted  unto 
us.  You  succeed  in  this  family  two  of  the  rarest  ladies 
of  their  time.  Equal  them  in  those  excellent  dispositions 
of  your  mind,  and  you  become  every  ways  equally  worthy 

name,  for  two  pots  of  it,  and  that  the  doctor  will  see  it  be  good,  for 
this  last  indeed  was  not  so,  you  may  bring  me  one  down,  and  keep 
the  other  yourself"  On  the  back  of  this  letter,  the  following  words 
are  written,  in  a  delicate  female  hand  : — "Tom  was  borne  the  17th 
of  September,  being  Wednesday,  in  the  morning,  betwixt  two  and 
three  o'clock,  and  was  christened  of  the  7th  of  October,  1634." 
There  is  another  letter  of  Wentworth's  to  lady  Wentworth,  dated 
from  Sligo,  in  1635,  in  the  same  museum,  wherein  he  sends  his 
blessing  to  **  little  Tom."  This  child  died,  but  Elizabeth  Rhodes 
afterwards  bore  lord  Strafford  a  girl,  who  was  yet  an  infant  at  her 
father's  death. 


122  BROWNING'S  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD. 

of  any  thing  that  they  had,  or  that  the  rest  of  tlie  world 
can  give.  And  be  you  ever  assured  to  be  by  me  cherished 
and  assisted  the  best  I  can,  thorow  the  whole  course  of 
my  life,  wherein  I  shall  be  no  other  to  you  than  I  was  to 
them,  to  wit,  your  loving  husband,  Wentworth."  Still, 
however,  Wentworth  did  not  acknowledge  her  publicly  ; 
still  he  kept  her,  for  some  time,  at  a  distance ;  and  finally 
sent  her  over  to  Ireland,  in  the  charge  of  sir  George 
Radcliffe,  some  time  before  he  himself  quitted  England. 
She  arrived  in  Dublin  with  Radchffe  in  January  1633  i, 
and  was  not  joined  by  Wentworth  till  the  July  of  that 
year,  when  his  lordship  at  last  ventured  to  acknowledge 
her.^  Laud,  upon  this,  seems  to  have  put  some  questions 
to  the  lord  deputy,  whose  answer  may  be  supposed,  from 
the  following  passage  in  the  archbishop's  rejoinder,  to 
have  been  made  up  of  explanations  and  apologies,  and 
a  concluding  hint  of  advice.  "And  now,  my  lord,  I 
heartily  wish  you  and  your  lady  all  mutual  content  that 
may  be ;  and  I  did  never  doubt  that  you  undertook  that 
course  but  upon  mature  consideration,  and  you  have 
been  pleased  to  express  to  me  a  very  good  one,  in  which 
God  bless  you  and  your  posterity,  though  I  did  not  write 
any  thing  to  you  as  an  examiner.  For  myself,  I  must 
needs  confess  to  your  lordship  my  weakness,  that  having 

1  Radcliffe's  Essay. 

2  His  friends  were  instant  in  their  congratulation,  and,  in  a  pro- 
fusion of  compliments,  sought  to  intimate  to  his  lordship, — that  in 
this  marriage  of  one  so  far  beneath  him  in  rank  and  consideration, 
he  had  only  furnished  another  proof  of  his  own  real  and  independent 
greatness.  There  is  something  pleasanter  in  the  earl  of  Leicester's 
note,  who  simply  regrets  that  he  "had  not  the  good  fortune  to  be 
one  of  the  throng  that  crowded  to  tell  you  how  glad  they  were 
that  you  had  passed  your  journey  and  landed  safely  in  your  govern- 
ment, or  (which  I  conceive  a  greater  occasion  of  rejoycing  with  you) 
that  you  were  happily  and  healthfully  arrived  in  the  arms  of  a  fair 
and  beloved  Wxio..'" ^Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  157. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


123 


been  married  to  a  very  troublesome  and  unquiet  wife  before, 
I  should  be  so  ill  advised  as  now,  being  about  sixty,  to  go 
marry  another  of  a  more  wayward  and  troubleso?ne 
generation.^^  ^  There  will  not  be  any  further  occasion  to 
remark  upon  the  early  circumstances  of  this  marriage, 
which  in  its  subsequent  results  presented  nothing  of  a 
striking  or  unusual  description,  but  I  shall  here  add,  for 
the  g  lidance  of  the  reader  in  his  judgment  of  these 
particulars  of  Wentworth's  conduct,  some  few  consider- 
ations which  in  justice  ought  not  to  be  omitted. 

Lord  Wentworth  was  a  man  of  intrigue,  and  the 
mention  of  this  is  not  to  be  avoided  in  such  a  view  of 
the  bearings  of  his  conduct  and  character  as  it  has  been 
here  attempted,  for  the  first  time,  to  convey.  It  is  at  all 
times  a  delicate  matter  to  touch  upon  this  portion  of 
men's  histories,  partly  from  the  nature  of  the  subject,  and 
partly  from  a  kind  of  soreness  which  the  community  feel 
upon  it,  owing  to  the  inconsistencies  between  their 
opinions  and  practices,  and  to  certain  strange  perplexities 
at  the  heart  of  those  inconsistencies,  which  it  remains  for 
some  bolder  and  more  philosophical  generanon  even  to 
discuss.  Meantime  it  is  pretty  generally  understood, 
that  fidelity  to  the  marriage  bed  is  not  apt  to  be  most 
prevalent  where  leisure  and  luxury  most  abound ;  and, 
for  the  same  reason,  there  is  a  tendency  in  the  richer 
classes  to  look  upon  the  licences  they  take,  and  to  talk 
of  them  with  one  another,  and  so  by  a  thousand  means 
to  increase  and  perpetuate  the  tendency, — of  which  the 
rest  of  society  have  little  conception,  unless  it  be,  indeed, 
among  the  extremely  poor.  For  similar  effects  result 
from  being  either  above  or  below  a  dependence  upon 
other  people's  opinions.  When  it  was  publicly  brought 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  125. 


124 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


out,  therefore,  that  Wentworth,  as  well  as  gayer  men  of 
the  court,  had  had  his  "  levities,"  as  the  grave  lord 
chancellor  Clarendon  calls  them, — it  naturally  told 
against  him  with  the  more  serious  part  of  the  nation  ; 
not,  however,  without  some  recoil,  in  the  opinions  of 
candid  observers,  against  the  ingenuousness  of  those  who 
told  it, — because  the  latter,  as  men  moving  in  the  same 
ranks  themselves,  or  on  the  borders  of  them,  must  have 
known  the  licence  secretly  prevailing,  and  probably 
partook  of  it  far  more  than  was  supposed.  Lady  Carlisle, 
one  of  the  favourites  of  Wentworth,  subsequently  became 
the  mistress  of  Pym  himself.  Lord  Clarendon,  backed 
with  the  more  avowed  toleration,  or,  rather,  impudent 
unfeelingness,  which  took  place  in  the  subsequent  reign, 
not  only  makes  use  of  the  term  just  quoted  in  speaking 
of  intrigue,  but  ventures,  with  a  sort  of  pick-thank  chuckle 
of  old  good-humour,  to  confess  that,  in  his  youth,  he 
conducted  himself  in  these  matters  much  as  others  did, 
though  with  a  wariness  proportionate  to  his  under- 
standing. "  Caute^'^  says  he,  in  the  quotation  popular 
at  the  time,  and  used  by  Wentworth  himself,  "^/  non 
caste. '^ 

We  are  also  to  take  into  consideration,  that  if  the 
court  of  Charles  the  First  had  more  sentiment  and 
reserve  than  that  of  his  heartless  son,  it  was  far  from 
being  so  superior  to  courts  in  general  in  this  respect,  as 
the  solemn  shadow  which  attends  his  image  with  posterity 
naturally  enough  leads  people  to  conclude.  The  better 
taste  of  the  poetry-and-picture-loving  monarch  did  but 
refine,  and  throw  a  veil  over,  the  grosser  habits  of  the 
court  of  his  father  James.  Pleasure  was  a  Silenus  in  the 
court  of  James.  In  that  of  Charles  the  Second,  it  was  a 
vulgar  satyr.     Under  Charles  the  First,  it  was  still  of  the 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


125 


breed,  but  it  was  a  god  Pan,  and  the  muses  piped 
among  his  nymphs. 

Far  from  wondering,  therefore,  that  Wentworth,  not- 
withstanding the  gravity  of  his  bearing  and  the  solemn 
violence  of  his  ambition,  allowed  himself  to  indulge  in 
the  fashionable  licence  of  the  times,  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  he  would  do  so,  not  only  from  the  self-indulgence 
natural  to  his  will  in  all  things,  but  from  the  love  of 
power  itself,  and  that  he  might  be  in  no  respect  behind- 
hand with  any  grounds  which  he  could  furnish  himself 
with,  for  having  the  highest  possible  opinion  of  his 
faculties  for  ascendancy.  As  nine-tenths  of  common 
gallantry  is  pure  vanity,  so  a  like  proportion  of  the  graver 
offence  of  deliberate  seduction  is  owing  to  pure  will  and 
the  love  of  power, — the  love  of  obtaining  a  strong  and 
sovereign  sense  of  an  existence  not  very  sensitive,  at  any 
price  to  the  existence  of  another.  And  thus,  without 
supposing  him  guilty  to  that  extent,  might  the  common 
gallantries  of  the  recherche  and  dominant  Strafford,  be 
owing  greatly  to  the  pure  pride  of  his  will,  and  to  that 
same  love  of  conquest  and  superiority,  which  actuated 
him  in  his  public  life. 

A  greater  cause  for  wonder  might  be  found  in  the 
tenderness  with  which  he  treated  the  wives  to  whom  he 
was  unfaithful,  and  especially  the  one,  this  Elizabeth 
Rhodes,  who  was  comparatively  lowly  in  birth.  But  so 
mixed  a  thing  is  human  nature,  as  at  present  constituted, 
that  the  vices  as  well  as  virtues  of  the  man  might  come 
into  play  in  this  very  tenderness,  and  help  to  corroborate 
it; — for,  in  addition  to  the  noble  and  kindly  thoughts 
which  never  ceased  to  be  mixed  up  with  his  more  violent 
ones,  he  would  think  that  the  wife  of  a  Wentworth  was 
of  necessity  a  personage   to   be   greatly  and   tenderly 


126  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

considered  on  all  occasions, — and  even  his  marriage  into 
an  obscure  family  would  be  reconciled  to  his  pride,  by 
the  instinct  which  leads  men  of  that  complexion  to  think 
it  equally  difficult  for  themselves  to  be  lowered  by  any- 
thing they  choose  to  do,  and  for  the  object  of  their 
attention  not  to  be  elevated  by  the  same  process  of 
self-reference. 

Nor, — to  quit  this  delicate  subject,  which  I  could  not 
but  touch  on,  to  assist  the  reader,  with  what  has  gone 
before,  to  a  proper  judgment  of  facts  that  are  yet  to  be 
mentioned, — and  which,  in  truth,  contains  matter  for  the 
profoundest  reflection  of  those  who  might  choose  to  con- 
sider it  by  itself, — will  it  be  thought  extraordinary  by 
such  as  have  at  all  looked  into  the  nature  of  their  fellow 
creatures,  that  a  man  like  Wentworth  should  have  treated 
his  wives  tenderly,  at  the  very  times  at  which  he  was 
most  unfaithful  to  them.  For,  whether  influenced  by 
love  or  by  awe,  they  do  not  appear  to  have  offended  him 
at  any  time  by  their  complaints,  or  even  to  have  taken 
notice  of  his  conduct ;  and  they  were  in  truth  excellent 
women,  worthy  of  his  best  and  most  real  love ;  so  as  to 
render  it  probable  that  his  infidelities  were  but  heats  of 
will  and  appetite,  never,  perhaps,  occasioning  even  a 
diminution  of  the  better  affections,  or,  if  they  did,  ending 
in  the  additional  tenderness  occasioned  by  remorse.  It 
is  a  vulgar  spirit  only  that  can  despise  a  woman  for 
making  no  remonstrances  \  and  a  brutal  one,  that  can 
ill  treat  her  for  it.  A  heart  with  any  nobleness  left 
in  it,  keeps  its  sacredest  and  dearest  corner  for  a 
kindness  so  angelical;  and  Wentworth's  pride  had 
enough  sentiment  to  help  his  virtues  to  a  due  appreci- 
ation of  the  generosity,  if  it  existed;  or  to  give  it  the 
benefit  of  supposing   that   it  would   have   done  so,  in 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  127 

favour  of  such  a  man  as  he,  beloved  by  wives  of  so 
sweet  a  nature. 

The  lord  Wentworth  was  of  a  tall  and  graceful  person, 
though  much  sickness  had  early  bent  an  originally 
sensitive  frame,  which  continued  to  sink  more  rapidly  in 
after-life  under  the  weight  of  greater  cares.  Habitual 
pain  had  increased  the  dark  hue  and  deep  contractions 
of  a  brow,  formed  and  used  to  "  threaten  and  command," 
and  no  less  effective  in  enforcing  obedience,  than  the 
loud  and  impressive  voice  that  required  it.  He  alludes 
to  this  sportively  in  a  letter  to  the  earl  of  Exeter,  wherein 
he  writes,  "  This  bent  and  ill  favoured  brow  of  mine  was 
never  prosperous  in  the  favour  of  ladies  ;  yet  did  they  know, 
hew  perfectly  I  do  honour,  and  how  much  I  value,  that 
excellent  and  gracious  sex,  I  am  persuaded  I  should  become 
a  favou-ite  amongst  them;  tush,  my  lord,  tush,  there  are 
few  of  them  know  how  a  gentle  a  garcon  I  am.^^  ^  Happy, 
as  it  is  evident,  is  the  opposite  consciousness,  out  of 
which  such  pleasant  complaining  flows  !  Whereupon 
lord  Exeter  rejoins  with  justice,  in  a  passage  which  may 
serve  to  redeem  his  lordship  amply  from  the  stupidity 
that  is  wont  to  be  charged  to  him, — "  My  lord,  I  could 
be  angry  with  you,  were  you  not  so  far  off,  for  wronging 
of  your  bent  brow,  as  you  term  it  in  your  letter  ;  for,  you 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  178.  180.  His  letters  to  lord  Exeter 
and  his  wife  are  all  very  pleasant,  and,  in  their  deep  sense  of 
personal  attentions  during  illness,  touching.  "  Be  not  so  venture- 
some on  my  occasion,"  he  writes,  dissuading  Exeter  from  a  winter 
journey  to  discharge  such  offices  of  friendship,  "be  not  so  venture- 
some on  my  occasion,  till  this  churlish  season  of  the  year  be  past, 
and  the  spring  well  come  on.  There  is  old  age  in  years  as  well  as 
in  bodies,  January  and  February  are  the  hoar  hairs  of  the  year,  and 
the  more  quietly,  the  more  within  doors  we  keep  them,  we  with  the 
year  grow  the  sooner  young  again  in  the  spring." — "To  neither  of 
you,"  he  concludes,  "with  this  new  year  I  can  wish  any  thing  of 
new,  but  that  you  may  tread  still  round  the  ancient  and  beaten  paths 
of  that  happiness  you  mutually  communicate  the  one  with  the  other." 


128  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

had  been  cursed  with  a  meek  brow  and  an  arch  of  white 
hair  upon  it,  never  to  have  governed  Ireland  7ior  Yorkshire 
so  well  as  you  do,  where  your  lawful  commands  have 
gotten  you  an  exact  obedience.  Content  yourself  with 
that  brave  commanding  part  of  your  face,  which  showeth 
gravity  without  dullness,  severity  without  cruelty,  clemency 
without  easiness,  and  love  without  extravagancy ^  An  un- 
gallant  consolation  under  female  displeasure  follows  : — 
"  And  if  it  should  be  any  impeachment  unto  your  favour 
with  that  sex  you  so  much  honour,  you  should  be  no 
loser  j  for  they  that  have  known  them  so  long  as  I  have 
done,  have  found  them  nothing  less  than  diabolos  blancos  " 
— which  lady  Exeter  judges  fit  to  dispense  with  in  a 
postscript : — "  I  cannot  consent  to  the  opinion  of  the 
lord  that  spake  last,  neither  do  I  believe  that  it  was  his 
own,  but  rather  vented  as  a  chastisement  to  my  particular. 
To  your  lordship  all  our  sex  in  general  are  obliged, 
myself  infinitely,  who  can  return  you  nothing  but  my 
perpetual  well  wishes,  with  admiration  of  your  vertues, 
and  my  heartiest  desire  that  all  your  imployments  and 
fortunes  may  be  answerable."  ^  Wentworth,  indeed,  had 
not  needed  this  assurance,  under  a  remark  which  May's 
happy  quotation, 

"  Non  formosus  erat,  sed  erat  facundus  Ulysses, 
Et  tamen  eequoreas  torsit  amore  Deas," 

has  long  since  shown  to  be  uncalled  for.  The  intense 
l^assion  of  a  Mirabeau  or  a  Strafford  will  hardly  make 
shipwreck  for  the  want  of  a  "  smooth  dispose." 

Wentworth  had  much  wronged  his  "  bent  brow,"  and 
he  knew  that  he  had  wronged  it.  It  was  sufficiently 
notorious  about  the  court,  that  whenever  it  relaxed  in 

,  ...       ^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  241. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  129 

favour  of  any  of  the  court  dames,  its  owner  was  seldom 
left  to  hope  in  vain.  The  lady  CarUle^,  the  lady 
Carnarvon,  the  young  lady  Loftus,  were  not,  if  written 
letters  and  general  rumours  deserve  trust,  the  only 
evidences  of  this. 

Sad  indeed  were  the  !"consequences  of  Wentworth's 
casual  appearances  in  the  queen's  withdrawing  room  ! 
"  Now  if  I  were  a  good  poet,"  writes  the  lord  Conway  to 
the  lord  deputy  himself,  ''I  should  with  Chaucer  call 
upon  Melpomene — 

^  This  extraordinary  woman,  whom  Dryden  called  the  **  Helen  of 
her  country,"  and  from  whom  Waller  borrowed  a  compliment  for 
Venus,  ("  the  bright  Carlile  of  the  court  of  heaven,")  played  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  the  public  affairs  of  the  time.  "  She  was  thought 
to  be  as  deeply  concerned  in  the  counsels  of  the  court,  and  afterwards 
of  the  parliament,  as  any  in  England."  After  the  death  of  Strafford 
she  had  become  the  mistress  of  Pym.  Yet  her  passions  were  not 
extreme  !  Sir  Toby  Mathews  lets  us  into  her  character  : — *'  She  is 
of  too  high  a  mind  and  dignity,  not  only  to  seek,  but  almost  to  wish, 
the  friendship  of  any  creature  :  they  whom  she  is  pleased  to  chuse,  are 
such  as  are  of  the  fuost  eminent  condition,  both  for  power  and  employ- 
ments ;  not  with  any  design  towards  her  own  particular,  either  of 
advantage  or  curiosity  ;  but  her  nature  values  fortunate  persons  as 
virtuous.''^  The  writer  of  Waller's  life  (the  countess  was  aunt  to  the 
poet's  Sacharissa),  in  the  Biographia  Britannica,  says  that  several 
letters  of  hers  are  printed  in  the  "  Strafford  Papers."  This  is  a  mis- 
take, but  we  find  frequent  allusions  to  her  throughout  the  correspond- 
ence. If  any  one  wished  to  know  of  Wentworth's  health,  they 
applied  to  lady  Carlile.  "I  hope  you  are  now  recovered  of  your 
gout,  which  my  lady  of  Carlile  told  me  you  had."  (ii.  124.)  If  any 
one  wanted  favour  at  court  they  wrote  to  Went  worth  to  bespeak  the 
interest  of  lady  Carlile.  We  find  even  Laud,  for  a  particular  purpose, 
condescending  to  this  : — "  I  will  write  to  my  lady  of  Carlile," 
Wentworth  writes  back,  "as  your  grace  appoints  me.  In  good 
sadness  I  judge  her  ladyship  very  considerable ;  for  she  is  often  in 
place,  and  is  extreamly  well  skilled  how  to  speak  with  advantage 
and  spirit  for  those  friends  she  professeth  unto,  which  will  not  be 
many.  There  is  this  further  in  her  disposition,  she  will  not  seem  to 
be  the  person  she  is  not,  an  ingenuity  I  have  always  observed  and 
honoured  her  for."  (Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  120.)  And  again,  out  of 
many  I  could  put  before  the  reader  : — '*  I  have  writ  fully  to  my  lady 
of  Carlile,  and  am  very  confident,  if  it  be  in  her  ladyship's  power, 
she  will  express  the  esteem  she  hath  your  lordship  in,  to  a  very  great 
height."    (Vol.  ii.  p.  138.)  . 

K 


I30  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

To  help  me  to  indite 

Verses  that  weepen  as  I  write. 

My  lady  of  Carnarvon,  behig  well  in  the  favour  and 
belief  of  her  father  and  husband^  came  with  her  husband 
to  the  court,  and  it  was  determined  she  should  have  been 
all  this  year  at  London,  her  lodgings  in  the  Cock-pit; 
but  my  lord  Wentworth  hath  been  at  court,  and  in  the 
queen's  withdrawing-room  was  a  constant  looker  upo?t  my 
lady,  as  if  that  only  were  his  business,  for  which  cause,  as 
it  is  thought,  my  lord  of  Carnarvon  went  home,  and  my 
lord  chamberlain  preached  often  of  honour  and  truth. 
One  of  the  sermons,  I  and  my  lady  Killegrew,  or  my  lady 
Stafford,  which  you  please,  were  at ;  it  lasted  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  supper,  the  text  was,  that  .... 
When  supper  was  ended,  and  we  were  where  we  durst 
speak,  my  lady  Killegrew  swore  by  G — d,  that  my  lord 
chamberlain  meaned  not  any  body  but  her  and  my  lord 
of  Dorset.  But  my  lady  Carnarvon  is  sent  down  to  her 
husband,  and  the  night  before  she  went  was  with  her  father 
in  his  chamber  till  past  twelve,  he  chiding  and  she  weeping, 
and  when  she  will  return  no  man  knows  ;  if  it  be  not  till 
her  face  do  secure  their  jealousy,  she  had  as  good  stay 
for  ever.  Some  think  that  my  lord  Wentworth  did  this 
rather  to  do  a  despight  to  her  father  and  husband,  than  for 
any  great  love  to  her^  ^ 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  47.  Lord  Conway's  letters  to  Went- 
worth are  extremely  amusing.  They  record  with  particular  care  the 
unlucky  courtships  of  Vandyke: — "It  was  thought,"  he  writes  on 
one  occasion  to  the  lord-deputy,  "that  the  lord  Cottington  should 
have  married  my  lady  Stanhope  ;  I  believe  there  were  intentions  in 
him,  but  the  lady  is,  as  they  say,  in  love  with  Carey  Raleigh.  You 
were  so  often  zuith  sir  Anthony  Vatidike,  that  you  co7ild  not  but  knotu 
his  i^allan tries  for  the  love  of  that  lady  ;  but  he  is  come  off  with  a 
coglioneria,  for  he  disputed  with  her  about  the  price  of  her  picture, 
and  sent  her  word,  that  if  she  would  not  give  the  price  he  demanded, 
he  would  sell  it  to  another  that  would  give  more.     This  week  every 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD,  131 

Sir  George  Radcliffe,  indeed,  in  his  Essay,  observes 
on  this  head  : — "  He  was  defamed  for  incontinence, 
wherein  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  exceedingly 
much  wronged.  I  had  occasion  of  some  speech  with 
him  about  the  state  of  his  soul  several  times,  but  twice 
especially,  when  I  verily  believe  he  did  lay  open  unto 
me  the  very  bottom  of  his  heart.  Once  was,  when  he 
was  in  a  very  great  affliction  upon  the  death  of  his  second 
wife ;  and  then  for  some  days  and  nights  I  was  very  few 
minutes  out  of  his  company : — the  other  time  was  at 
Dublin,  on  a  Good  Friday  (his  birth-day),  when  he  was 
preparing  himself  to  receive  the  blessed  sacrament  on 
Easter  day  following.  At  both  these  times,  I  received 
such  satisfaction,  as  left  no  scruple  with  me  at  all,  but 
much  assurance  of  his  chastity.  I  knew  his  ways  long 
and  intimately,  and  though  I  cannot  clear  him  of  all 
frailties,  (for  who  can  justify  the  most  innocent  man?) 
yet  I  must  give  him  the  testimony  of  conscientiousness  in 
his  ways,  that  he  kept  himself  from  gross  sins,  and 
endeavoured  to  approve  himself  rather  unto  God  than 
unto  man,  to  be  religious  inwardly  and  in  truth,  rather 
than  outwardly  and  in  shew."  What  has  been  quoted 
from  lord  Conway's  letter,  however, — and,  were  it 
necessary  to  my  purpose,  many  letters  more,  and  of 
stronger  meaning,  are  to  be  produced, — does  not  come 
within  Radcliffe's  rebuke  of  the  "  defamation  "  employed 
against  Strafford.  The  only  tendency  of  what  sir  George 
says,  therefore,  is  to  confirm  the  charge  in  its  warrantable 
view,  (with  which  alone  I  have  dwelt  upon  it,)  of  illus- 


one  will  be  at  London  ;  the  queen  is  very  weary  of  Hampton  Court, 
and  will  be  brought  to  bed  at  St.  James's  ;  then  my  lady  of  Carlile 
will  be  a  constant  courtier  ;  her  dog  hath  lately  written  a  sonnet  in 
her  praise,  which  Harry  Percy  burnt,  or  you  had  now  had  it." 


132  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

trating  duly  private  conduct  and  character.  Far  different 
was  Pym's  great  object  when,  instancing  in  the  house  of 
commons,  as  Clarendon  informs  us,  "  some  high  and 
imperious  actions  done  by  Strafford  in  England  and 
Ireland,  some  proud  and  over-confident  expressions  in 
discourse,  and  some  passionate  advices  he  had  given  in 
the  most  secret  councils  and  debates  of  the  affairs  of 
state,  he  added  some  lighter  passages  of  his  vanity  and 
amours,  that  they  who  were  not  inflamed  with  anger  and 
detestation  against  him  for  the  former,  might  have  less 
esteem  and  reverence  for  his  prudence  and  discretion."  ^ 
These  words  may  recall  me  to  the  actual  progress  of 
Strafford's  life  and  thoughts.  Prudence  and  discretion 
— whatever  his  great  associate  of  the  third  parliament 
might  afterwards  think  right,  or  just,  or  necessary  to  his 
fatal  purposes,  to  urge — still,  so  far  as  they  may  be 
associated  in  a  grand  project  of  despotism,  eminently 
characterised  every  movement  of  lord  Wentworth.  The 
king  had  now  become  extremely  anxious  for  his  departure, 
which  the  winding  up  of  certain  private  affairs  alone 
delayed."  ^     On  the  completion  of  these  he  arrived  in 

^  Clarendon,  Hist,  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i.  p.  137. 

"^  A  note  from  Radclifife's  Essay  will  show  that  the  energetic 
method  and  despatch  which  made  the  difficulties  of  the  public 
business  sink  before  him,  were  no  less  serviceable  in  the  conduct  of 
his  private  affairs.  "  In  the  managing  of  his  estate  and  domestical 
affairs,  he  used  the  advice  of  two  friends,  Ch.  Gr.  and  G.  R.,  and 
two  servants,  Richard  Marris  his  steward,  and  Peter  Man  his 
solicitor.  Before  every  term  they  met,  and  Peter  Man  brought  a 
note  of  all  things  to  be  considered  of ;  which  being  taken  into  con- 
sideration one  by  one,  and  every  one's  opinion  heard,  resolution  was 
had  and  set  down  in  writing,  whereof  his  lordship  kept  one  copy 
and  Peter  Man  another :  at  the  next  meeting,  an  account  was  taken 
of  all  that  was  done  in  pursuance  of  the  former  orders,  and  a  new 
note  made  of  all  that  rested  to  be  done,  with  an  addition  of  such 
things  as  did  arise  since  the  last  meeting,  and  were  requisite  to  be 
consulted  of.  His  whole  accounts  were  ordered  to  be  made  up 
twice  every  year,  one  half  ending  the  20th  of  September,  the  other 


BROWN  INC  S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  133 

London,  for  the  purpose  of  setting  sail  immediately. 
Here,  however,  he  was  unexpectedly  delayed  by  the  neces- 
sity of  waiting  the  arrival  of  a  man  of  war;  for  so 
dangerously  was  the  Irish  Channel  at  that  time  infested 
with  pirates,  that  the  lord  deputy  could  not  venture  to 
pass  over  without  convoy.  "  The  winds  fall  out  so 
contrary,"  he  writes  in  answer  to  the  secretaries,  who, 
with  the  king  and  court,  were  engaged  in  a  progress, 
"that  the  king's  ship  cannot  be  gotten  as  yet  forth  of 
Rochester  river;  but  so  soon  as  we  can  speed  it  away, 
and  I  have  notice  from  captain  Plumleigh  that  he  is  ready 
for  my  transportation,  I  will  not  stay  an  hour ;  desiring 
extremely  now  to  be  upon  the  place  where  I  owe  his 
majesty  so  great  an  account,  as  one  that  am  against  all 
non-residents,  as  well  lay  as  ecclesiastical."  Wentworth 
took  care,  at  the  same  time,  to  avail  himself  of  some 
opportunities  offered  him  by  this  delay.  He  completed 
some  pending  arrangements ;  secured  finally  the  close 
counsel  and  assistance  of  Laud  ^ ;  established  a  private 

the  20th  of  March  ',for  by  that  time  the  former  half  year'' s  rents  were 
commonly  received,  or  else  the  arrears  were  fit  to  be  sought  after ;  it 
being  no  advantage  either  to  the  tenant  or  landlord  to  suffer  arrears  to 
run  longer.'^ 

^  A  few  months  after  his  departure,  Laud  was  created  archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  Wentworth  had  foreseen  this.  "  One  advantage 
your  lordship  will  have,"  writes  lord  Falkland  in  a  somewhat  pettish 
letter,  "  that  I  wanted  in  the  time  of  my  government,  an  archbishop 
of  Canterbury  to  friend  ;  who  is  withal  a  person  of  especial  power  to 
assist  you  in  that  part  which  shall  concern  the  church  government ; 
the  third  and  principal  member  of  the  kingdom  ; — for  the  translation 
of  the  late  archbishop  into  heaven,  and  of  the  late  bishop  of  London 
unto  the  see  of  Canterbury,  makts  that  no  riddle,  being  so  plain." 
The  sort  of  stipulations  for  mutual  service  which  passed  between  the 
lord  deputy  and  Laud,  may  be  gathered  from  two  out  of  twenty 
requests  of  the  latter  which  reached  Dublin  castle  before  Wentworth 
himself  had  arrived  there.  They  are  equally  characteristic  of  the 
sincerity  and  atrocity  of  the  bigotry  of  Laud.  "  I  humbly  pray  your 
lordship,  to  remember  what  you  have  promised  me  concerning  the 
church  at  Dublin,  which  hath  for  divers  years  been  used  for  a  stable 


134  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

and  direct  correspondence  with  the  king  himself  for  the 
sanction  of  his  more  delicate  measures ;  instructed  a 
gossiping  person,  a  hired  retainer  of  his  own,  the  rev.  Mr. 
Garrard,  to  furnish  him,  in  monthly  packets  of  news,  with 
all  the  private  scandal  and  rumours  and  secret  affairs  of 
the  court,  and  of  London  generally ;  and  obtained  the 
appointment  of  his  friends  Wandesford  and  Radcliffe  to 
official  situations,  and  to  seats  in  the  privy  council,  re- 
serving them  as  a  sort  of  select  cabinet  of  his  own,  with 
whom  every  thing  might  be  secretly  discussed.^  These 
things  settled,  he  now  himself  became  anxious  for  his  de- 
parture, which,  with  some  further  delay,  and  not  without 
some  personal  loss  ^^  he  at  last  accomplished. 

by  your  predecessors,  and  to  vindicate  it  to  God's  service,  as  you 
shall  there  examine  and  find  the  merits  of  the  cause."  And  again  : 
— "There  is  one  Christopher  Sands,  who,  as  I  am  informed,  dwells 
now  in  Londonderry,  and  teaches  an  English  school  there,  and  I  do 
much  fear  he  doth  many  things  there  to  the  dishonour  of  God,  and 
the  endangering  of  many  poor  souls.  For  the  party  is  a  Jew,  and 
denies  both  Christ  and  his  Gospel,  as  I  shall  be  able  to  prove,  if  I 
had  him  here.  I  humbly  pray  your  lordship  that  he  may  be  seized 
on  by  authority,  and  sent  over  in  safe  custody,  and  delivered  either 
to  myself  or  Mr.  Mottershed,  the  register  of  the  high  commission, 
that  he  may  not  live  there  to  infect  his  majesty's  subjects."  Vol.  i. 
pp.  8i,  82. 

^  He  found  great  advantage  in  this ;  and  a  few  months  after  his 
arrival  in  Dublin  wrote  to  the  lord  treasurer  some  strenuous  advice, 
suggested  by  his  experience, — "that  too  many  be  not  taken  into 
counsel  on  that  side,  and  that  your  resolutions,  whatever  they  be,  be 
kept  secret ;  for,  believe  me,  there  can  be  nothing  more  prejudicial 
to  the  good  success  of  those  affairs  than  their  being  understood 
aforehand  by  them  here.  So  prejudicial  I  hold  it,  indeed,  that  on 
my  faith  there  is  not  a  minister  on  this  side  that  knows  any  thing 
I  either  write  or  intend,  excepting  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  and  sir 
George  Radcliffe,  for  whose  assistance  in  this  government,  and 
comfort  to  myself  amidst  this  generation,  I  am  not  able  sufficiently 
to  pour  forth  my  humble  acknowledgments  to  his  majesty.  Sure  I 
were  the  most  solitary  man  without  them,  that  ever  served  a  king 
in  such  a  place."  Vol.  i.  pp.  193,  194.,  &c.  Wandesford's  office 
was  that  of  Master  of  the  Rolls. 

^  "They  write  me  lamentable  news  forth  of  Ireland,"  he  informs 
the  secretary  in  one  of  his  last  letters  before  his  departure,  "  what 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  135 

Lord  Wentworth  arrived  in  Dublin  in  July,  1633. 
His  very  arrival,  it  is  justly  said,  formed  a  new  era  in 
the  government  of  Ireland.  He  ordered  the  ceremonial 
of  the  British  court  to  be  observed  within  the  castle ; 
a  guard,  an  institution  theretofore  unknown,  was  estab- 
lished ;  and  the  proudest  of  the  Irish  lords  were  at  once 
taught  to  feel  the  "immense  distance"  which  separated 
them  from  the  representative  of  their  sovereign. ^ 

spoil  is  done  there  by  the  pirates.  There  is  one  lyes  upon  the 
Welch  coast,  which  it  seems  is  the  greatest  vessel,  commanded  by 
Norman  :  another  is  a  vessel  of  some  sixty  tuns,  called  the  Pick- 
pocket of  Dover,  lyes  in  sight  of  Dublin  :  and  another  lyes  near 
Yougliall : — who  do  so  infest  every  quarter,  as  the  farmers  have 
already  lost  in  their  customs  a  thousand  pounds  at  least,  all  trade 
being  at  this  means  at  a  stand.  The  pirate  that  lyes  before  Dublin 
took,  on  the  20th  of  the  last  month,  a  bark  of  Liverpool,  with  goods 
worth  4000/.,  and  amongst  them  as  much  linen  as  cost  me  500/.  ;  and 
in  good  faith  I  fear  I  have  lost  my  apparel  too  ;  which  if  it  be  so, 
will  be  as  much  loss  more  unto  me,  besides  the  inconvenience  which 
lights  upon  me,  by  being  disappointed  of  my  provisions  upon  the 
place.  By  my  faith,  this  is  but  a  cold  welcome  they  bring  me  withal 
to  that  coast,  and  yet  I  am  glad  at  least  that  they  escaped  my  plate  ; 
but  the  fear  I  had  to  be  thought  to  linger  here  unprofitably,  forced 
me  to  make  this  venture,  where  now  I  wish  I  had  had  a  little  more 
care  of  my  goods,  as  well  as  of  my  person."     Vol.  i.  p.  90, 

^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  200,  201.  In  the  various  orders 
he  procured,  he  invariably  distinguished  between  the  demands  of  his 
place,  and  the  courtesies  due  to  his  person.  In  this  despatch  to 
Cooke,  a  number  of  minute  instructions  are  prayed  for,  which  were 
instantly  granted.  Among  others,  he  demanded  "instructions  to 
call  upon  the  nobility  and  others  to  attend  the  deputy  upon  all 
solemn  processions  to  church,  and  such  like.  This  is  not  so  well 
observed  as  it  ought,  and  they  grow  generally  more  negligent  than 
is  fit  they  were,  not  truly  I  trust  in  any  distaste  to  me,  for  to  my 
■person  they  give  as  much  respect  as  I  desire  from  them  ;  but  I  know 
not  how,  in  point  of  greatness,  some  of  them  think  it  too  much  per- 
chance to  be  tied  to  any  thing  of  duty,  rather  desirous  it  might  be  taken 
as  a  courtesy.  It  would  do  therefore  very  well,  his  majesty  were 
graciously  pleased  by  letter  to  signify  what  the  attendance  is  he 
i-equires  at  their  hands."  These  he  specifies  accordingly,  with  a 
vast  quantity  of  laborious  and  ceremonious  regulations,  adding,  "I 
confess  I  might,  without  more,  do  these  things  ;  but  where  I  may 
seem  to  take  any  thing  to  myself,  I  am  naturally  modest,  and  should 
be  extreme  unwilling  to  be  held  supercilious  or  imperious  amongst 


136  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

An  extract  from  the  lord  deputy's  first  despatch, 
written  about  a  week  after  his  arrival,  and  duplicates  of 
which  he  forwarded  at  the  same  time,  with  his  customary 
zeal,  to  Cooke  and  Cottington,  is  too  characteristic  to  be 
omitted.  "I  find  them  in  this  place,"  he  writes,  "a 
company  of  men  the  most  intent  upon  their  own  ends 
that  I  ever  met  with,  and  so  as  those  speed,  they  consider 
other  things  at  a  very  great  distance.  I  take  the  crown 
to  have  been  very  ill  served,  and  altogether  impossible 
for  me  to  remedy,  unless  I  be  intirely  trusted^  and  lively 
assisted  and  countenanced  by  his  majesty,  which  I  am 
bold  to  write  unto  your  lordship  once  for  all,  not  for 
any  end  of  my  own,  but  singly  for  his  majesty's  service. 
Besides,  what  is  to  be  done  must  be  speedily  executed, 
it  being  the  genius  of  this  country  to  obey  a  deputy  better 
upon  his  entrance  than  upon  his  departure  from  them ; 
and  therefore  I  promise  your  lordship  I  will  take  my 
time :  for  whilst  they  take  me  to  be  a  person  of  much 
more  power  with  the  king,  and  of  stronger  abilities  in 
myself,  than  indeed  I  have  reason  either  in  fact  or  right 
to  judge  myself  to  be,  I  shall,  it  may  be,  do  the  king 
some  service ;  but  if  my  weakness  therein  once  happen  to 
be  discovered  amongst  them  in  this  kingdom^  for  the  love  of 
God,  my  lord,  let  me  be  taken  home ;  for  I  shall  but  lose 
the  king's  affairs,  and  my  own  time  afterwards ;  and  my 
unprofitableness  in  the  former,  I  confess,  will  grieve  me 
much  more  than  any  prejudice  which  may  happen  to  my 

them  ;  so  as  I  cannot  do  therein  as  I  both  could  and  would,  where 
I  were  commanded.  Therefore,  if  these  be  held  duties  fit  to  be 
paid  to  his  majesty's  greatness,  which  is  alike  operative,  and  to  be 
reverenced  thorough  every  part  of  his  dominions,  I  crave  such  a 
direction  in  these  as  in  the  other,  that  so  they  may  know  it  to  be  his 
pleasure  ;  other  wise  I  shall  be  tvell  content  they  may  be  spared,  having 
in  truth,  no  such  vanity  in  myself  as  to  be  delighted  with  any  of  these 
obsei-vances.^^ 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  137 

own  particular  by  the  expense  of  the  latter.  The  army  I 
conceive  to  be  extremely  out  of  frame ;  an  army  rather 
in  name  than  in  deed,  whether  you  consider  their  num- 
bers, their  weapons,  or  their  discipline.  And  so  in  truth, 
not  to  flatter  myself,  must  I  look  to  find  all  things  else, 
so  as  it  doth  almost  affright  me  at  first  sight,  yet  you 
shall  see  I  will  not  meanly  desert  the  duties  I  owe  my 
master  and  myself:  howbeit,  without  the  arm  of  his 
majesty's  counsel  and  support,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to 
go  through  with  this  work ;  and  therein  I  must  crave 
leave  to  use  your  lordship  only  as  my  mediator,  so  often 
as  I  shall  have  occasion.  I  send  your  lordship  the 
original  herein  inclosed,  of  the  offer  for  this  next  year's 
contribution,  and  to  the  secretary  but  the  copy;  judging 
it  might  be  thought  fitter  for  your  lordship  to  present  it 
to  his  majesty  than  the  other.  You  will  be  pleased  to 
send  it  me  safely  back,  there  being  many  particulars  con- 
tained therein ;  of  which  I  shall  be  able  to  make  very 
good  use  hereafter,  if  I  do  not  much  mistake  myself."  ^ 

Wentworth,  in  fact,  extraordinary  as  were  the  powers 
with  which  he  had  been  invested,  had  still  reason  for 
distrust  in  the  weakness  and  insincerity  of  the  king ;  and 
thus  sought  to  impress  upon  his  council,  as  the  first  and 
grand  consideration  of  all,  that  unless  unlimited  authority 
was  secured  to  him,  he  could,  and  would,  do  nothing. 
One  thing,  he  saw  at  once,  stood   in  the  way  of  his 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  96,  97.  In  the  lord  treasurer's  copy 
of  this  despatch  is  the  following  characteristic  note  on  a  money 
transaction  in  which  Weston  thought  he  had  been  somewhat  sharply 
dealt  with  : — "Your  lordship  is  pleased  to  term  my  last  letter  you 
received  in  Scotland  an  angry  one  ;  but  by  my  troth  your  lordship, 
under  favour,  was  mistaken  ;  for  I  neither  was,  nor  conceived  I  had 
cause  to  be,  angry  ;  only  I  was  desirous  you  might  truly  understand 
the  state  of  my  accounts,  without  any  other  thought  at  all."  Secure 
of  Laud's  influence,  Wentworth  had  become  careless  of  Weston. 


138  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

scheme  of  government.  In  the  old  time,  whilst  Ireland 
continued  to  be  governed  only  as  a  conquered  country, 
the  lord  deputy  and  council  had  used  their  discretion  in 
superseding  the  common  law  courts,  and  assuming  the 
decision  of  private  civil  causes.  During  the  weaker 
governments  which  succeeded,  however,  this  privilege 
was  surrendered ;  and  lord  Falkland  himself  had  con- 
firmed the  surrender,  by  an  express  prohibition.  The 
common  law,  and  its  authority,  had  in  consequence 
gained  some  little  strength  at  the  period  of  Wentworth's 
arrival.  He  had  not  rested  many  days  in  his  state  chair, 
before  this  prohibition  was  suspended,  and  the  old 
privilege  restored.^  At  all  risks,  even  the  most  fatal, 
Wentworth  silenced  the  objectors  in  both  countries.  He 
had  visions  before  him  which  they  dared  not  to  con- 
template !  Their  notion  of  government  was  one  of 
sordid  scheming :  not  the  less  was  the  subject  to  be 
wronged,  but  the  more  should  the  instruments  of  wrong 
avoid  the  responsibility  of  it ;  they  saw  nothing  but  their 
own  good,  and  sought  to  prevent  nothing  save  their  own 
harm.  Wentworth  was  a  despot,  but  of  a  different  metal. 
He  shrunk  from  no  avowal,  in  shrinking  from  no  wrong ; 

■^  "I  find  that  my  lord  Falkland  was  restrained  by  proclamation, 
not  to  meddle  in  any  cause  betwixt  party  and  party,  which  certainly 
did  lessen  his  power  extremely  ;  I  know  very  well  the  common 
lawyers  will  be  passionately  against  it,  who  are  wont  to  put  such  a 
prejudice  upon  all  other  professions,  as  if  none  were  to  be  trusted, 
or  capable  to  administer  justice,  but  themselves  ;  yet  how  well  this 
suits  wilh  monarchy,  when  they  monopolise  all  to  be  governed  by  their 
.year-books,  you  in  England  have  a  costly  experience ;  and  I  am  sure 
his  majesty's  absolute  power  is  not  weaker  in  this  kingdom,  where 
hitherto  the  deputy  and  council-board  have  had  a  stroke  with  them." 
Such  is  an  extract  from  a  remarkable  despatch  to  Cooke,  which  fills 
nearly  ten  closely  printed  folio  pages,  written  soon  after  the  lord 
deputy's  arrival,  and  filled  with  reasoning  of  the  most  profound  and 
subtle  character,  in  reference  to  his  contemplated  schemes  and 
purposes.     See  Vol.  i.  p.  194. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  139 

and,  confident  of  the  plans  he  proposed  to  execute,  felt 
that  the  individual  injury  he  inflicted  at  present  would  be 
redeemed  and  forgotten  in  the  general  prosperity  of  the 
future.  "  These  lawyers,"  he  writes  to  the  lord  marshal, 
"would  monopolise  to  themselves  all  judicature,  as  if 
no  honour  or  justice  could  be  rightly  administered  but 
under  one  of  their  bencher's  gowns.  I  am  sure  they  little 
understand  the  iitisettled  state  of  this  kingdom.,  that  could 
advise  the  king  to  lesse?t  the  power  of  his  deputy ,  indeed  his 
own.,  until  it  were  brought  into  that  stayed  temper  of 
obedience  and  co7iformity  with  that  of  England.,  or  at  least 
till  the  benches  here  were  better  provided  with  judges.,  than 
God  knows  as  yet  they  are.  Therefore,  if  your  lordship's 
judgment  approve  of  my  reasons,  I  beseech  you,  assist 
me  therein,  or  rather  the  king's  service,  afid  I  shall  be 
answerable  with  my  head.^^  ^  Equal  in  all  his  exactions, 
he  had  suspected  also  from  the  first,  that  the  great  com- 
plainants against  his  government  would  be  men  of  rank ; 
and  now,  in  further  organisation  of  his  powers,  procured 
an  order  from  the  king,  that  none  of  the  nobility,  none 
of  the  principal  officers,  "  none  of  those  that  hath  either 
office  or  estate  here,"  should  presume  to  quit  the  king- 
dom without  the  licence  of  the  lord  deputy.^  When  his 
use  of  this  power  was  afterwards  spoken  against,  he 
silenced  the  objectors  by  a  stern  and  sarcastical  reference 
to  one  of  the  graces  they  had  themselves  solicited,  which 
seemed  indeed  to  warrant  the  authority,  but  had  been 
proposed  with  a  far  different  purpose,  that  of  preventing 
men  of  large  fortunes  from  deserting  their  estates,  and 
wasting  their  revenues  abroad  ! 

Wentworth  called  his  first  privy  council.     The  mem- 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p,  223. 
^  Ibid.  p.  362.,  and  see  p.  348, 


140  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

bers  of  this  body  had  hitherto  borne  great  sway  in  the 
government  of  the  island  i,  greater,  indeed,  than  the 
lords  deputies  themselves, — and  they  were  now,  for  the 
first  time,  to  see  their  authority  broken,  and  their  rank 
and  influence  set  at  scorn.  Only  a  select  number  of 
them  were  summoned,  a  practice  usual  in  England  2, 
but  in  Ireland  quite  unheard  of.  But  the  mortifications 
reserved  for  those  that  had  been  honoured  by  a  sum- 
mons, were  almost  greater  than  were  felt  by  the  absent 
counsellors  !  Having  assembled  at  the  minute  appointed, 
they  were  obliged  to  wait  several  hours  upon  the  leisure 
of  the  deputy,  and  when  he  arrived  at  last,  were  treated 
with  no  particle  of  the  consideration  which  deliberative 
duties  claim. 

Wentworth  laid  before  them  a  provision  for  the  im- 
mediate necessities  of  government,  and  more  especially 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  army.  The  views  of  the  lord 
deputy,  somewhat  more  reaching  than  their  own,  startled 
them  not  a  little.  Sir  Adam  Loftus,  the  son  of  the  lord 
chancellor,  broke  a  sullen  silence  by  proposing  that  the 
voluntary  contribution  should  be  continued  for  another 
year,  and  that  a  parliament  should,  meantime,  be  prayed 

^  The  lords  justices  were  the  chief  leaders  of  this  body,  Went- 
worth, in  one  of  his  despatches,  had  written  thus  : — "On  Thursday 
seven-night  last  in  the  morning,  I  visited  both  the  justices  at  their 
own  houses,  which  albeit  not  formerly  done  by  other  deputies,  yet  I 
conceived  it  was  a  duty  I  owed  them,  being  as  then  but  a  private 
person,  as  also  to  show  an  example  to  others  %vhat  would  always  become 
them  to  the  supreme  governor,  tahom  it  should  please  his  majesty  to  set 
over  them.'"  This  was  a  subtle  distinction,  which  their  lordships  did 
not  afterwards  find  they  had  much  profited  by. 

2  "I  desire,"  Wentworth  had  demanded  of  Cooke,  "that  the 
orders  set  down  for  the  privy  council  of  England  might  be  sent  unto 
us,  with  this  addition,  that  no  man  speak  covered  save  the  deputy, 
and  that  their  speech  may  not  be  directed  one  to  another,  but  only 
to  the  deputy  ;  as  also,  taking  notice  of  their  negligent  meetings 
upon  committees,  whicli,  indeed,  is  passing  ill,  to  command  me 
straitly  to  cause  them  to  attend  those  services  as  in  duty  they  ought." 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  141 

for.  "After  this  followed  again  a  long  silence,"  when 
the  lord  deputy  called  on  sir  William  Parsons,  the  master 
of  the  wards,  to  deliver  his  opinion.  It  was  unfavourable. 
"  I  was  then  put  to  my  last  refuge,"  says  Wentworth, 
"  which  was  plainly  to  declare  that  there  was  no  necessity 
which  induced  me  to  take  them  to  counsel  in  this  busi- 
ness, for  rather  than  fail  in  so  necessary  a  duty  to  my 
master,  I  would  undertake,  upon  the  pe7'il  of  my  head,  to 
make  the  king's  army  able  to  subsist,  and  to  provide  for 
itself  amongst  them  without  their  help.  Howbeit,  forth  of 
my  respect  to  themselves  I  had  been  persuaded  to  put 
this  fair  occasion  into  their  hands,  not  only  to  express 
their  ready  affections  and  duties  to  his  majesty,  and  so 
to  have  in  their  own  particular  a  share  in  the  honour  and 
thanks  of  so  noble  a  work;  but  also  that  the  proposition 
of  this  next  contribution  might  move  from  the  protestants, 
as  it  did  this  year  from  the  papists,  and  so  these  no  more 
in  show  than  substance  to  go  before  those  in  their  cheer- 
fulness and  readiness  to  serve  his  majesty ;  ...  so  as 
my  advice  should  be  unto  them,  to  make  an  offer  under 
their  hands  to  his  majesty  of  this  next  year's  contribution, 
with  the  desire  of  a  parliament,  in  such  sort  as  is  con- 
tained in  their  offer,  which  herewith  I  send  you  enclosed. 
They  are  so  horribly  afraid  that  the  contribution  money 
should  be  set  as  an  annual  charge  upon  their  inheritances, 
as  they  would  redeem  it  at  any  rate,  so  as  upon  the  name 
of  a  parliament  thus  proposed,  it  was  something  strange  to 
see  how  instantly  they  gave  co7isent  to  this  proposition,  with 
all  the  cheerfulness  possible,  and  agreed  to  have  the 
letter  drawn,  which  you  have  here  signed  with  all  their 
hands."! 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  98,  99.    With  characteristic  purpose 
Wentworth  subjoins  to  this  despatch  a  private  note  to  Cooke : — 


142  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

A  "  parliament ! "  This  word,  Wentworth  knew,  would 
sound  harshly  in  the  ear  of  Charles,  who  had,  by  this 
time,  prohibited  its  very  mention  in  England.  But  he 
saw,  from  what  had  occurred  in  the  council,  in  what 
consideration  the  mere  name  was  held  there ;  and  he 
saw,  moreover,  abroad  among  the  nation,  a  feeling  in 
favour  of  it,  which  might,  by  a  bold  movement,  be  even 
wrested  to  the  purpose  of  tyranny,  but  could  never,  with 
any  safety  to  that  cause,  be  altogether  avoided. 

Nor  was  this  aspect  of  affairs  forced  upon  Wentworth 
by  necessity  alone.  He  had  certainly  entered  Ireland 
with  one  paramount  object, — that  of  making  his  master 
*'  the  most  absolute  prince  in  Christendom,"  in  so  far  as 
regarded  that  "  conquered  country."  Wealthier  he  meant 
her  to  become,  even  in  the  midst  of  his  exactions ;  but 
a  slave  he  had  resolved  to  make  her,  in  so  far  as  the 
popular  control  was  to  be  admitted  over  her  government. 
Yet  it  has  been  shown  that  Wentworth  was  not  a  vain 
man,  that  he  was  ever  ready  to  receive  the  suggestions  of 
the  occasion  and  the  time,  and  it  is  clear  that  he  entered 
Ireland  by  no  means  assured  of  being  able  to  carry  his 
purposes  into  effect  by  the  simple  and   straightforward 

"  I  should  humbly  advise  that  in  some  part  of  your  next  letter  you 
would  be  pleased  to  give  a  touch  with  your  pen  concerning  sir  Adam 
Loftus,  such  as  I  might  show  him,  for  he  deserves  it ;  and  it  will 
encourage  the  well  affected,  and  affright  the  other,  when  they  shall 
see  their  actions  are  rightly  understood  by  his  majesty  ;  and  also 
some  good  words  for  the  lord  chancellor,  the  loid  Cork,  the  lord  of 
Ormond,  and  the  lord  Mountnorris  ;  and  chiefly  to  express  in  your 
despatch  that  his  majesty  will  think  of  their  desire  for  a  parliament, 
and  betwixt  this  and  Christmas  give  them  a  fair  and  gracious  answer, 
for  the  very  hope  of  it  will  give  them  great  contentment,  and  make 
them  go  on  very  willingly  with  their  payments."  Had  none  of  these 
men  afterwards  thwarted  him  in  his  great  despotic  projects,  Went- 
worth would  have  sought  every  means  of  covering  them  with  rewards 
— to  which  he  recognised  no  stint  or  measure,  when  called  for  by  his 
notion  of  public  service. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  143 

machinery  of  an  absolute  despotism.  The  king  might 
see  in  parliaments  nothing  but  an  unnecessary  obstruction 
to  the  free  exercise  of  his  royal  will,  and  might  have 
directed  Wentworth  to  "put  them  off  handsomely,"  or 
otherwise.  But  Wentworth  had  impressions  of  his  own, 
which  were  not  to  be  so  got  rid  of.  These  parliaments 
— which  had  been  only  hurriedly  glanced  at  by  the 
averted  eye  of  Charles,  on  some  occasion  when  he  had 
been  forced  to  "  come  at  the  year's  end  with  his  hat  in 
his  hand,"  and  to  whom  the  notion  they  had  conveyed 
was  simply  the  strengthening  his  conviction  that  "  such 
assemblies  were  of  the  nature  of  cats,  they  ever  grew 
cursed  with  age "  —  these  parliaments  were  known 
thoroughly,  and  were  remembered  profoundly,  by  Went- 
worth. He  had  been  conversant  with  the  measures,  and 
connected  with  the  men.  He  had  been  the  associate  of 
Pym,  and  had  spoken  and  voted  in  the  same  ranks  with 
Eliot.  Such  an  experience  might  be  abhorred,  but  could 
not  be  made  light  of;  and  that  mighty  power,  of  which 
he  had  been  the  sometime  portion,  never  deserted  the 
mind  of  Wentworth.  He  boldly  suffered  its  image  to 
confront  him,  that  he  might  the  better  resist  its  spirit  and 
divert  its  tendency. 

When  he  arrived  in  Ireland,  therefore,  he  was  quite 
prepared  for  the  mention  of  parliament — even  for  the 
obligation  of  granting  it.  He  had  not  watched  human 
nature  superficially,  though,  unfortunately,  he  missed 
of  the  final  knowledge.  He  would  have  retained  that 
engine  whose  wondrous  effects  he  had  witnessed,  and 
had  even  assisted  in  producing.  He  would  have  com- 
pelled it  to  be  as  efificient  in  the  service  of  its  new  master, 
as  of  late  in  withstanding  his  pleasure.  And  Went- 
worth could  not  but  feel,  probably,  that  the  foundation 


144  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

for  so  vast  a  scheme  as  his,  which  was  to  embody  so 
many  far-stretching  assumptions,  might  be  not  unsafely 
propped  at  the  first  with  a  little  reverence  of  authority.^ 
He  would  set  up  a  parliament,  for  instance,  which  should 
make  itself  "  eminent  to  posterity  as  the  very  basis  and 
foundation  of  the  greatest  happiness  and  prosperity  that 
ever  befell  this  nation," — by  the  extraordinary  and  notable 
process  of  being  forced  to  confirm  the  king's  claim  to 
unlimited  prerogative  !  That  "way  of  parliaments,"  it  is 
evident  from  many  passages  in  his  despatches,  he  could 
not  but  covet, — even  while  he  spoke  of  leaving  "such 
forms,"  and  betaking  himself  to  "  his  majesty's  undoubted 
privilege."  Power,  indeed,  was  the  great  law  of  Went- 
worth's  being;  but  from  all  this  it  maybe  fairly  supposed, 
that  even  over  the  days  of  his  highest  and  most  palmy 
state  lingered  the  uneasy  fear  that  he  might,  after  all, 
have  mistaken  the  nature  of  power,  and  be  doomed  as  a 
sacrifice  at  last  to  its  truer,  and  grander,  and  more  lasting 
issues.  The  fatal  danger  he  frequently  challenged — the 
"  at  peril  of  my  head,"  which  so  often  occurs  in  his 
despatches — must  have  unpleasantly  betrayed  this  to  his 
confederates  in  London. 

A  parliament  then,  he  acknowledged  to  himself,  must 

^  On  one  occasion,  it  may  be  remarked,  when  the  attorney-general 
in  England  much  wished,  as  he  fancied,  to  strengthen  the  famous 
Poynings'  act  by  an  abolition  of  certain  incidents  attached  to  it, 
Wentworth  opposed  him  in  an  elaborate  argument,  I  quote  a 
remarkable  passage  from  the  despatch  : — "Truly  I  am  of  opinion, 
that  in  these  matters  of  form  it  is  the  best  not  to  be  wiser  than  those 
that  went  before  us,  but  '  stare  super  vias  antiquas. '  For  better  it  is 
to  follozv  the  old  tj'ack  in  this  particular,  than  question  the  validity  of 
all  the  statutes  enacted  since  Poynings'  act ;  for  if  this  which  is  done 
in  conformity  thereunto  be  not  sufficient  to  zvarrant  the  summons  of 
this  present  parliament,  they  zvere  all  those  parliaments  upon  the  same 
grounds  unlawfully  assembled,  and  consequently  all  their  acts  void ; 
which  is  a  point  far  better  to  sleep  in  peace,  than  unnecessarily  or 
farther  to  be  axvakened.''''     Vol.  i.  p.  269. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  145 

ultimately  be  summoned  in  Ireland.  But  he  was  cautious 
in  communicating  this  to  the  English  council.  "My 
opinion  as  touching  a  parliament,"  he  writes  to  Cooke, 
"  I  am  still  gathering  for,  but  shall  be  very  cautious  and 
cunctative  in  a  business  of  so  great  weight,  naturally  dis- 
trusting my  judgment,  and  more  here,  where  I  am  in  a 
sort  yet  a  stranger,  than  in  places  where  I  had  been  bred, 
versed,  and  acquainted  in  the  affairs  and  with  the  con- 
ditions of  men ;  so  as  I  shall  hardly  be  ready  so  soon  to 
deliver  myself  therein  as  formerly  I  writ;  but,  God 
willing,  I  shall  transmit  that  and  my  judgment  upon 
many  other  the  chief  services  of  his  majesty  betwixt  this 
and  Christmas.  I  protest  unto  you  it  is  never  a  day  I 
do  not  beat  my  brains  about  them  some  hours,  well  fore- 
seeing that  the  chief  success  of  all  my  labours  will  consist 
much  in  providently  and  discreetly  choosing  and  sadden- 
ing my  first  ground  :  for  if  that  chance  to  be  mislayed  or 
left  loose,  the  higher  I  go  the  greater  and  more  sudden 
will  be  the  downcome."^     Some  short  time,  however, 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  134.  More  genuine  and  character- 
istic still  was  a  letter  he  enclosed  by  the  same  messenger  to  lord 
Carlisle  : — "  I  am  yet  ingathering  with  all  possible  circumspection 
my  observations,  where,  upon  what,  and  when,  to  advise  a  reforma- 
tion, and  to  set  myself  into  the  way  of  it,  under  God's  good  blessing, 
and  the  conduct  of  his  majesty's  wisdom.  I  shall,  before  it  be  long, 
be  ripe  to  return  the  fruit  of  my  labours  to  be  examined  and  con- 
sidered on  that  side,  and  then  rightly  disposed  to  set  them  on  work 
and  pursue  them  here  with  effect,  taking  along  with  me  those  two 
great  household  gods,  which  ought  always  to  be  reverenced  in  the 
courts,  and  sway  in  the  actions,  of  princes, — honour  and  justice. 
These  counsels,  I  confess,  are  secret  ones,  it  being  one  of  my  chiefesi 
cares  to  conceal  my  intentions  froj?i  them  all  here,  as  they  with  the 
same  industry  pry  into  me,  and  sift  every  corner  for  them  ;  and  this 
I  do,  to  the  end  I  might,  if  it  be  possible,  win  from  them  ingenuous 
and  clear  advice,  which  I  am  sure  tiever  to  have,  if  they  once  discover 
how  I  stand  affected ;  for  thin  it  is  the  genius  of  this  place  to  soothe  the 
deputy,  be  he  in  the  right  or  wrong,  till  they  have  insinuated  themselves 
into  the  fricition  of  their  ozvn  ends,  and  then  at  after  to  accuse  him, 
even  of  those  things  wherein  themselves  had  a  principal  share,  as  well 

L 


146  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

after  the  date  of  this  letter,  he  forwarded  an  elaborate 
despatch  to  the  secretary  for  the  consideration  of  the 
king.  In  this  despatch  he  insisted  very  strongly  on  the 
wide  distinction  between  English  and  Irish  parliaments 
which  had  been  planted  by  the  act  of  Poynings^,  he 


in  the  counsel  as  in  the  execution.  God  deliver  me  from  this  ill  sort 
of  men,  and  give  me  grace  so  far  to  see  into  them  beforehand,  as 
that  neither  my  master's  service  or  myself  suffer  by  them.  My  lord, 
I  ever  weary  you  when  I  begin,  and  judge  how  I  should  have  troubled 
you,  if  the  wind  had  stood  oftener  for  England."  The  earl  of 
Strafford  had  melancholy  and  disastrous  proof  of  the  truth  of  that 
account  by  Wentworth,  "of  the  genius  of  that  place."  Some  of 
the  men  who  hunted  him  most  fiercely  to  the  scaffold  were  men  that 
had  been  willing  instruments  of  his  worst  power  in  Ireland. 

^  The  origin  of  this  act  has  been  already  adverted  to.  The 
popular  leaders  in  England  declaimed  strongly  against  Wentworth's 
interpretation  of  it.  If  measures  were  produced,  they  maintained, 
of  sufficient  weight  to  satisfy  the  king  and  council,  the  intention  of 
the  law  was  fulfilled  ;  for,  they  argued,  it  was  never  designed  to 
preclude  the  members  of  parliament,  when  once  assembled,  from 
introducing  such  other  topics  as  they  might  deem  expedient  for  the 
general  welfare.  Wentworth,  on  the  other  hand,  strenuously  con- 
tended that  the  express  letter  of  the  law  was  not  to  be  thus  evaded  ; 
that  the  previous  approbation  of  the  king  and  council  was  distinctly 
required  to  each  proposition  ;  and  that  no  other  measures  could  ever 
be  made  the  subject  of  discussion.  Surely,  however,  looking  at  the 
origin  of  the  measure,  the  popular  is  the  just  construction.  The  act 
was  designed,  with  a  beneficial  purpose,  to  lodge  the  initiative poxver 
of  parliament  in  the  English  council,  as  a  protection  against  the 
tyranny  of  lords  and  deputies.  But  once  establish  this  power,  and 
the  restraint  was  designed  to  terminate.  Great  was  the  opportunity, 
however,  for  Wentworth,  and  he  made  the  most  of  it.  Poynings' 
act  was  his  shield.  **  I  am  of  opinion,"  he  writes  to  Cooke,  "  there 
cannot  be  any  thing  invaded,  which  in  reason  of  state  ought  to  be 
by  his  majesty's  deputy  preserved  with  a  more  hallowed  care,  than 
Poynings'  act,  and  which  I  shall  never  willingly  suffer  to  be  touched 
or  blemished,  more  than  my  right  eye."  Vol.  i.  p.  279.  Again, 
when  the  English  attorney  proposed  something  which  the  lord 
deputy  feared  might  work  against  the  stability  of  the  Poynings'  bill, 
Wentworth  described  it,  "A  mighty  power  gotten  by  the  wisdom 
of  former  times ;  and  it  would  be  imputed  to  this  age,  I  fear,  as  a 
mighty  lachete  hy  those  that  shall  still  succeed,  should  we  now  be  so 
improvident  as  to  lose  it ;  and,  for  my  own  part,  so  zealous  am  I  for 
the  prerogatives  of  my  master,  so  infinitely  in  love  with  this  in 
especial,  that  my  hand  shall  never  be  had  as  an  instrument  of  so 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  147 

dwelt  on  the  exigencies  of  the  state,  and  alleged  various 
powerful  reasons  in  that  regard.  He  claimed  also  the 
permission  to  issue  the  writs  instantly ;  for  if  they  were 
deferred  till  the  voluntary  contribution  should  again  be 
about  to  terminate,  they  would  appear,  he  argued,  to  issue 
from  necessity,  the  parliament  would  be  emboldened  to 
clog  their  grants  with  conditions,  "and  conditions  are 
not  to  be  admitted  with  any  subjects,  much  less  with  this 
people,  where  your  majesty's  absolute  sovereignty  goes 
much  higher  than  it  is  taken  (perhaps)  to  be  in  England." 
A  detailed  plan  succeeded  his  many  and  most  emphatic 
reasons,  which  unquestionably  "clenched"  them.  The 
parliament  that  was  to  be  summoned,  Wentworth  pledged 
himself  should  be  divided  into  two  sessions, — the  first  of 
which  should  be  exclusively  devoted  to  the  subject  of 
supplies ;  while  the  second,  which  might  be  held  six 
months  afterwards,  should  be  occupied  with  the  con- 
firmation of  the  "  graces,"  and  other  national  measures, 
which  his  majesty  so  fearfully  apprehended.  Now  the 
parliament,  Wentworth  reasoned,  would,  in  its  first 
session,  in  all  probability,  grant  a  sufficient  supply  for 
the  expenditure  of  three  years,  and  this  once  secured,  the 
"  graces  "  might  be  flung  over  if  necessary.  Further, 
the  lord  deputy  pledged  himself  that  he  would  procure 
the  return  of  a  nearly  equal  number  of  protestants  and 
cathohcs  to  the  house  of  commons,  in  order  that  both 
parties,  being  nearly  balanced  against  each  other,  might 
be  more  easily  managed.  He  proposed,  moreover,  to 
obtain  qualifications  for  a  sufficient  number  of  military 
officers,  whose  situations  would  render  them  dependent 
on  propitiating  the  pleasure  of  the  lord  deputy.     Then, 

fatal  a  disservice  to  the  crown,  as  I  judge  the  remittal  or  weakening 
this  power  would  be." 


148  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

he  urged,  with  the  parties  nearly  equal,  they  might  easily 
be  kept  in  an  equal  condition  of  restraint  and  harmless- 
ness, — since  the  catholics  might  be  privately  warned, 
that  if  no  other  provision  was  made  for  the  maintenance 
of  tlie  army,  it  would  be  necessary  to  levy  on  them  the 
legal  fines ;  while  all  that  was  necessary  to  keep  the 
protestants  in  check,  would  be  to  hint  to  them  that,  until 
a  regular  revenue  was  established,  the  king  could  not  let 
go  the  voluntary  contributions,  or  irritate  the  recusants 
by  the  enforcement  of  the  penal  statutes.  "  In  the 
higher  house,"  Wentworth  concluded,  ''your  majesty  will 
have,  I  trust,  the  bishops  wholly  for  you ;  the  titular 
lords,  rather  than  come  over  themselves,  will  put  their 
proxies  into  such  safe  hands  as  may  be  thought  of  on 
this  side;  and  in  the  rest,  your  majesty  hath  such 
interest,  what  out  of  duty  to  the  crown,  and  obnoxious- 
ness  in  themselves,  as  I  do  not  apprehend  much,  indeed 
any,  difficulty  amongst  them." 

The  whole  of  this  extraordinary  document  is  given  in 
an  appendix  to  this  volume  ^,  and  the  reader  is  requested 
to  turn  to  it  there. 

Let  him  turn  afterwards  to  the  dying  words  of  its 
author,  and  sympathise,  if  he  can,  with  the  declaration 
they  conveyed,  that  "  he  was  so  far  from  being  against 
parliaments,  that  he  did  always  think  parliaments  in 
England  to  be  the  happy  constitution  of  the  kingdom 
and  nation,  and  the  best  means,  under  God,  to  make 
the  king  and  his  people  happy."  In  what  sense  these 
words  were  intended,  under  what  dark  veil  their  real 
object  was  concealed,  the  reader  may  now  judge.  It  is 
uphfted  before  him.  Those  five  sections  by  which 
Charles  is  "  fully  persuaded  to  condescend  to  the  present 
■^  See  Appendix  I.  p.  279. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  149 

calling  of  a  parliament," — the  notice  of  the  villanous 
juggle  of  the  "two  sessions,"  with  which  the  wretched 
people  are  to  be  gulled, — the  chuckling  mention  of  the 
advantage  to  be  taken  of  "the  frightful  apprehension 
which  at  this  time  makes  their  hearts  beat," — the  com- 
placent provision  made  for  the  alternative  of  their  "  start- 
ing aside," — the  king  who  is  to  be  able,  and  the  minister 
who  is  to  be  ready,  "  to  chastise  such  forgetfulness," 
and  "justly  to  punish  so  great  a  forfeit  as  this  must 
needs  be  judged  to  be  in  them," — all  these  things  have 
long  ago  been  expiated  by  Wentworth  and  his  master ; 
but  their  damning  record  remains  against  those,  who 
would  proclaim  that  expiation  to  have  been  unjustly 
demanded. 

Overwhelmed  by  his  minister's  project,  Charles  at  last 
yielded.^  Still,  even  while,  reluctantly,  he  consented,  he 
could  not  see  altogether  clearly  the  necessity  for  "  these 
things  being  done  these  ways,"  and  all  the  assurances  of 
the  lord  deputy  could  not  prevent  Charles  bidding  him, 
"  as  for  that  hydra,  take  good  heed ;  for  you  know,  that 
here  I  have  found  it  as  well  cunning  as  malicious.  It  is 
true,  that  your  grounds  are  well  laid,  and,  I  assure  you, 
that  I  have  a  great  trust  in  your  care  and  judgment ;  yet 
my  opinion  is,  that  it  will  not  be  the  worse  for  my  service^ 
though  their  obstinacy  make  you  to  break  them,  for  I  fear 
that  they  have  some  ground  to  demand  more  than  it  is  fit 
for  me  to  give.  This  I  would  not  say,  if  I  had  not  con- 
fidence in  your  courage  and  dexterity ;  that,  in  that  case, 
'  you  would  set  me  down  there  an  example  what  to  do 
here:' 

Wentworth  now  issued  his  writs  for  a  parliament  to  be 
instantly  held  in  Dublin,  and  great  joy  prevailed  among 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  231. 


150  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF'STRAFFORD. 

the  people.  The  privy  council  were  summoned,  in  con- 
formity with  the  provisions  of  the  law  of  Poynings,  to 
deliberate  on  the  propositions  to  be  transmitted  to 
England  as  subjects  for  discussion  in  the  session.  "  To 
gain  this  first  entrance  into  the  work,"  Wentworth 
observes,  "  I  thought  it  fit  to  intrust  it  in  this  manner 
with  a  committee,  not  only  to  expedite  the  thing  itself 
the  more,  but  also  better  to  discover  how  their  pulses 
beat,  wherein  I  conceived  they  would  deliver  themselves 
more  freely,  than  if  I  had  been  present  amongst  them 
myself."  Soon,  however,  while  the  lord  deputy  waited 
without,  he  was  rejoined  by  his  trusty  counsellors 
Wandesford  and  Radcliffe,  with  the  news  that  their 
associates  were  restive;  that  they  were  proposing  all 
sorts  of  popular  laws  as  necessary  to  conciliate  the 
houses;  and  that,  as  to  subsidies,  they  quite  objected  to 
transmitting  a  bill  with  blanks  to  be  filled  up  at  discretion, 
and  were  of  opinion  that  the  amount  should  be  specified, 
and  confined  within  the  strictest  limits  of  necessity.  "  I 
not  knowing  what  this  might  grow  to,"  writes  Wentworth, 
"  went  instantly  unto  them,  where  they  were  in  council, 
and  told  them  plainly  I  feared  they  began  at  the  wrong 
end,  thus  consulting  what  might  please  the  people  in  a 
parliament,  when  it  would  better  become  a  privy  council 
to  consider  what  might  please  the  king,  and  induce  him 
to  call  one."  The  imperious  deputy  next  addressed 
them  in  a  very  long  and  able  speech,  pressed  upon  them 
the  necessities  of  the  nation,  and  the  only  modes  of 
arresting  them.  "  The  king  therefore  desires,"  he  con- 
tinued, "this  great  work  may  be  set  on  his  right  foot, 
settled  by  parliament  as  the  more  beaten  path  he  covets 
to  walk  in,  yet  not  more  legal  than  if  done  by  Ms  preroga- 
tive royal,  where  the  ordinary  way  fails  him.      If  this 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  151 

people  then  can  be  so  unwise  as  to  cast  off  his  gracious 
proposals,  and  their  own  safety,  it  must  be  done  without 
them  \  and  for  myself,  as  their  true  friend,  I  must  let 
them  know,  that  I  cannot  doubt,  but  they  will  altogether 
save  me  the  trouble,  hasten  in  their  advice,  and  afford 
their  best  means  for  the  fulfilling  these  his  so  good  inten- 
tions. That  as  a  faithful  servant  to  my  master  I  shall 
counsel  his  majesty  to  attempt  it  first  by  the  ordinary 
means ;  disappointed  there,  where  he  may  with  so  much 
right  expect  it,  I  could  not  in  a  cause  so  just  and  necessary 
deny  to  appear  for  him  in  the  head  of  that  army,  and  there 
either  persuade  theni  fully  his  majesty  had  reason  on  his 
side,  or  else  think  it  a  great  honour  to  die  in  the  pursuit  of 
that,  wherein  both  justice  and  piety  had  so  far  convinced 
my  judgment,  as  not  left  me  wherewithal  to  make  one 
argument  for  denying  myself  unto  commands  so  justly 
called  for  and  laid  upon  me."  In  conclusion,  Went- 
worth  gave  them  a  still  more  characteristic  warning : — 
*'  Again  I  did  beseech  them  to  look  well  about,  and  be 
wise  by  others'  harms.  They  were  not  ignorant  of  the 
misfortunes  these  meetings  had  run  in  England  of  late 
years.  That  therefore  they  were  not  to  strike  their  foot 
upon  the  same  stone  of  distrust,  which  had  so  often 
broken  them.  For  I  could  tell  them,  as  one  that  had,  it 
may  be,  held  my  eyes  as  open  upon  those  proceedings 
as  another  man,  that  what  other  accident  this  mischief 
might  be  ascribed  unto,  there  was  nothing  else  that 
brought  it  upon  us,  but  the  king's  standing  justly  to  have 
the  honour  of  trust  from  his  people,  and  an  ill-grounded 
narrow  suspicion  of  theirs,  which  would  not  be  ever 
entreated,  albeit  it  stood  with  all  the  reason  and  wisdom 
in  the  world.  This  was  that  spirit  of  the  air  that  walked 
in  darkness  betwixt  them,  abusing  both,  whereon  if  once 


152 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


one  beam  of  light  and  truth  had  happily  reflected,  it  had 
vanished  like  smoke  before  it !  "  ^ 

The  council  could  not  hold  to  one  of  their  purposes  in 
the  presence  of  such  overawing  energy — "  whereupon 
they  did,  with  all  cheerfulness,  assent  unto  the  council ; 
professed  they  would  entirely  conform  themselves  unto 
it ;  acknowledged  it  was  most  reasonable  this  kingdom 
should  defray  itself;  that  they  would  not  offer  the  pardon, 
or  any  other  act  that  might  bear  the  interpretation  of  a 
condition ;  that  they  would  send  over  no  other  laws  but 
such  as  I  should  like  ;  nay,  if  I  pleased,  they  would  send 
over  the  bill  of  subsidy  alone."  ^ 

Another  obstruction  remained,  which  was  as  fiercely 
and  immediately  disposed  of     The  council  had  ventured 


^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  236 — 241.,  for  the  despatch,  in 
which  these  things  are  all  most  happily  described.  Laud,  in  a 
subsequent  letter,  gives  Wentworth  some  account  of  the  way  in 
which  the  despatch  had  been  received.  I  extract  one  amusing 
passage  : — "  The  next  day,  at  Greenwich,  your  despatch  to  secretary 
Coke  was  read  to  the  committee,  the  king  present,  order  given  for 
us  to  meet,  and  for  speed  of  our  answer  to  you.  If  speed  be  not 
made  to  your  mind,  I  am  not  in  fault,  and  I  hope  you  will  have  all 
things  in  time.  Every  body  liked  your  carriage  and  discourse  to  the 
council,  but  thought  it  too  long,  and  that  too  mitch  strcjzgth  was  put 
upon  it ;  but  you  may  see  what  it  is  to  be  an  able  speaker.  Your  old 
friend  says,  he  had  rather  see  you  talk  something  into  the  exchequer, 
but  he  pleases  himself  extremely  to  see  how  able  Brutus  is  in  the 
senate-house  !  And  wot  you  what  ?  When  we  came  to  this  passage 
in  your  despatch,  'Again,  I  did  beseech  them  to  look  well  about, 
and  to  be  wise  by  others'  harms,  they  were  not  ignorant  of  the  mis- 
fortunes these  meetings  had  run  in  England  of  late  years,'  &c.  Here 
a  good  friend  of  yours  interposed,  ^  quorutn  pars  magna  ftd.^  I  hope 
you  will  charge  this  home  upon  my  lord  Cottington ;  he  hath  so 
many  Spanish  tricks,  that  I  cannot  tell  how  to  trust  him  for  any 
thing  but  making  of  legs  to  fair  ladies." — Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i. 
pp.  255,  256. 

2  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  255.  To  this  Wentworth  shrewdly 
subjoins, — "  But  I,  not  thinking  it  fit  it  should  come  so  singly  from 
the  king  without  some  expression  of  care  for  the  good  government  of 
his  people,  have  caused  it  to  be  accompanied,  as  you  will  receive  it, 
by  this  express." 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD,  153 

to  suggest  to  the  lord  deputy  the  existence  of  an  ancient 
custom,  whereby  the  lords  of  the  pale  claimed  the  right 
of  being  consulted  respecting  the  projected  measures, 
but  which  Wentworth  had  at  once  silenced  by  "  a  direct 
and  round  answer,"  Four  days  after  this,  however,  the 
earl  of  Fingal,  on  behalf  of  his  brother  peers,  obtained 
an  interview,  and,  as  the  deputy  described,  "  very  gravely, 
and  in  a  kind  of  elaborate  way,  told  me,"  &c.  &c.  It 
is  simply  necessary  to  add,  that  so  peremptory  and 
supremely  contemptuous  was  Wentworth's  reception  of 
these  traditionary  claims,  that  the  lord  Fingal  was  fain  to 
escape  from  his  presence  with  a  submissive  apology.^ 

Nothing  remained  now  but  the  elections.  Some 
difficulty  attended  them  at  the  first,  but  one  or  two 
resolute    measures    quelled    it,^      In    July,     1634,    an 

■^  See  the  deputy's  own  account,  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp. 
246,  247. 

^  "The  priests  and  Jesuits  here,"  writes  Wentworth,  in  a  very 
able  despatch  to  Cooke,  "are  very  busy  in  tlie  election  of  knights 
and  burgesses  for  this  parliament,  call  the  people  to  their  masses, 
and  there  charge  them,  on  pain  of  excommunication,  to  give  their 
voice  with  no  protestant.  1  purpose  hereafter  to  question  some  of 
them  : — being,  indeed,  a  very  insufferable  thing  for  them  thus  to 
interpose  in  causes  which  are  purely  civil ;  and  of  passing  ill  con- 
sequence, to  warm  and  inflame  the  subjects  one  against  another  ; 
and,  in  the  last  resort,  to  bring  it  to  a  direct  pirty  of  protestant  and 
papist,  2vhich  surely  is  to  be  avoided  as  much  as  may  be,  unless  our 
numbers  zvere  the  greater.  A  sheriff  that,  being  set  on  by  these 
fellows,  carried  himself  mutinously  in  the  election  of  burgesses  for 
this  town,  we  brought  into  the  Castle  Chamber  upon  an  ore  tenus, 
where,  upon  what  he  had  set  under  his  hand,  we  fined  him  200/., 
and  500/.  more  for  his  contempt  in  refusing  to  set  his  hand  to 
another  part  of  his  examination,  both  at  the  council  board  and  in 
open  court,  disabling  him  for  ever  bearing  that  office  hereafter  in 
this  city.  Which  wrought  so  good  an  effect,  as  giving  order  pre- 
sently for  chusing  of  a  new  sheriff,  and  going  on  the  next  day  with 
the  election  again,  the  voices  were  all  orderly  taken  ;  and  the  con- 
formable proving  the  greater  number,  Catelin,  the  king's  serjeant 
and  recorder  of  this  town,  and  alderman  Barry,  a  protestant,  were 
chosen  ;  the  former  whereof  I  intend  to  make  the  speaker,  being  a 
very  able  man  for  that  purpose,  and  one  I  assure  myself  will  in  all 


154  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

admirably  balanced  party  of  catholics   and  protestants 
assembled  in  the  Irish  house  of  commons. 

With  extraordinary  pomp  and  ceremony  ^  the  lord 
deputy  proceeded  to  meet  them.  His  speech,  however, 
was  more  startling  than  his  splendour.  He  began  by 
telling  them  that  two  sessions  should  be  held ;  and  that 
tlie  first,  "according  to  the  natural  order,"  should  be 
devoted  to  the  sovereign,  and  the  second  to  the  subject. 
"  In  demanding  supplies,"  he  continued,  *'  I  only  require 
you  to  provide  for  your  own  safety ;  I  expect,  therefore, 
your  contributions  will  be  both  liberal  and  permanent. 
That  is,  there  must  be  a  standing  revenue  (mark  it  well) 
provided  by  you  to  supply  and  settle  the  constant  pay- 
ments of  the  army.  For  it  is  far  below  my  great  master 
to  come  at  every  year's  end,  with  his  hat  in  his  hand,  to 
entreat  that  you  would  be  pleased  to  preserve  yourselves." 
Moreover,  he  told  them  that,  if  they  expected  constant 
protection  without  contributing  towards  it,  they  looked 
for  more  than  had  ever  been  the  portion  of  a  "  conquered 
kingdom."  A  bitter  warning  succeeded  this  of  the  fate 
of  English  parliaments.  "Take  heed,"  he  said,  in  a 
lesson  from  his  own  patriotic  experiences,  "take  heed  of 
private  meetings  and  consults  in  your  chambers,  by 
design  and  privity  aforehand  to  contrive  how  to  discourse 
and  carry  the  public  affairs  when  you  come  into  the 
houses.  For,  besides  that  they  are  in  themselves  un- 
lawful, and  punishable  in  a  grievous  measure,  I  never 
knew  them  in  all  my  experience  to  do  any  good  to  the 


things  apply  himself  to  his  majesty's  service." — Strafford  Papers^ 
vol.  i.  p.  260. 

^  "It  was  the  greatest  civility  and  splendour,"  writes  Went  worth, 
**  Ireland  ever  saw.  A  very  gallant  nobility  and  gentry  appeared, 
far  above  that  I  expected."  Vol.  i.  p.  276.  See  a  programme  in 
the  Biog.  Brit.  vol.  vii.  pp.  4184,  4185. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  155 

public  or  to  any  particular  man.  I  have  often  known 
them  do  much  harm  to  both."  With  these  were  mingled 
some  just  entreatments.  "  Divide  not  nationally  betwixt 
English  and  Irish.  The  king  makes  no  distinction 
betwixt  you,  but  reputes  you  all  without  prejudice,  and 
that  upon  safe  and  true  grounds,  I  assure  myself,  his 
good  and  faithful  subjects.  And  madness  it  were  in  you, 
then,  to  raise  that  wall  of  separation  amongst  yourselves. 
If  you  should,  you  know  who  the  old  proverb  deems 
likest  to  go  to  the  wall ;  and,  believe  me,  England  will 
not  prove  the  weakest.  But,  above  all,  divide  not 
between  the  interests  of  the  king  and  his  people,  as  if 
there  were  one  being  of  the  king,  and  another  being  of 
his  people."  He  concluded  with  a  distinct  statement, 
that  their  conduct  during  the  session  should  be  attended, 
according  to  its  results,  with  punishment  or  reward."  ^ 

Not  in  words  only,  but  equally  in  the  manner  of  its 
delivery,  did  this  speech  proclaim  the  despotic  genius  of 
lord  Wentworth.  Here  he  resorted  to  all  those  arts 
which,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  are  essentially  neces- 
sary to  the  success  of  the  despot;  and  illustrated,  by 
conduct  which  to  such  superficial  statesmen  as  my  lord 
Cottington  seemed  vain  and  unnecessary,  his  profound 
knowledge  of  character.  "  Well,"  he  writes  to  his  more 
relying  friend  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, — "well, 
spoken  it  is  since,  good  or  bad  I  cannot  tell  whether ; 
but  sure,  I  am  not  able  yet  to  help  myself  to  a  copy  of 
it.  But  as  it  was,  /  spake  it  not  betwixt  my  teeth,  but  so 
loud  and  heartily,  that  I  protest  unto  you  I  was  faint 
withal  at  the  present,  and  the  worse  for  it  two  or  three 
days  after.  It  makes  no  matter,  for  this  way  I  tvas 
assured  they  should  have  sound  at  least,  with  how  little 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  287 — 290. 


156  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

weight  soever  it  should  be  attended.  And  the  success  ivas 
answerable.  For  had  it  been  low  and  mildly  delivered,  I 
might  perchance  have  gotten  from  them,  it  was  pretty  well, 
— whereas  this  way,  filling  one  of  their  senses  with  noise, 
and  amusing  the  rest  with  earnestness  and  vehemence,  they 
swear  {yet  forgive  them,  they  know  not  what  they  say  I)  it 
was  the  best  spoken  they  ever  heard  in  their  lives.  Let 
Cottington  crack  7ne  that  nut  now.''''  ^ 

Secure  of  his  measures,  Wentworth  demanded  at  once 
the  enormous  grant  of  six  subsidies.^  With  the  view,  at 
the  same  time,  of  preventing  the  possibility  of  the  parties 
communicating  in  any  way  with  each  other,  and  so 
cutting  from  beneath  them  every  ground  of  mutual 
reliance,  he  introduced  the  proposition  to  the  house  on 
the  second  day  of  their  meeting.  Ignorant  of  each 
other's  sentiments — incapable  of  any  thing  like  a  plan  of 
opposition — nothing  was  left  for  protestants  and  catholics 
but  to  seek  to  rival  each  other,  as  it  were,  in  the  devotion 
of  loyalty.  The  subsidies  were  voted  unconditionally^, 
and  one  voice  of  profound  respect  for  the  lord  deputy 
rose  from  all.*     Not  less  successful  was  his  management 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  273. 

''^  He  had  great  difficulty  in  inducing  the  privy  council  to  accede  to 
this.  At  last  he  prevailed — "  Sir  Adam  Loftus,"  as  he  writes  to 
Cooke,  "  first  beginning  the  dance,  which  is  now  the  second  time 
he  hath  done  the  king  passing  good  service  in  this  kind."  Vol.  i.  p. 
259.  Not  a  single  service  did  lord  Wentworth  ever  receive,  without 
acknowledging  it  strongly  to  the  king,  accompanied  by  the  special 
naming  of  those  who  had  so  served  him. 

"^  These  were  the  first  "settled  subsidies"  that  had  ever  been 
paid  in  Ireland.      See  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  307. 

*  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  277 — 279.  One  restive  member 
there  was,  and  one  only.  This  was  sir  Robert  Talbot ;  who,  having 
mentioned  Wentworth  without  a  sufficiently  awful  respect,  was 
instantly  expelled,  and  committed  to  custody  till,  on  his  knees,  he 
begged  pardon  of  the  deputy.  Commons'  Journ.  vol.  i.  p.  116. 
Leland,  vol.  iii.  p.  18.  One  case  may  be  added  to  this  of  a  very 
different  character,  in  proof  that,  when  Wentworth  saw  the  means 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  157 

of  the  convocation  of  Irish  clergy,  which  had  been 
summoned  with  parliament,  and  from  whom  eight  sub- 
sidies were  ultimately  procured.  Fortified  with  his 
money  bills,  and  just  as  the  session  was  on  the  eve  of 
closing,  Wentworth  turned  with  contempt  to  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  house  of  lords.^     Here  had  been  oppo- 


of  advancing  the  public  service,  even  at  the  cost  of  some  personal 
consideration,  he  did  nor  care  to  waive  the  latter.  Among  the  pro- 
clamations he  had  issued  to  regulate  the  parliamentary  sitting,  he 
expressly  forbade  the  entrance  of  any  member  of  either  house  with 
his  sword,  and  all  obeyed  this  except  the  young  earl  of  Ormond, 
who  told  the  usher  of  the  black  rod  that  he  should  have  no  sword 
of  his  except  through  his  body.  Equally  resolute  was  his  answer  to 
the  fiery  questioning  of  the  lord  deputy  himself, — quietly  producing 
his  majesty's  writ,  which  had  called  him  to  parliament  "  cinctum 
cum  gladio,"  or  "  per  cincturam  gladii."  The  doubt  then  occurred 
to  the  deputy,  of  the  superior  value  of  young  Ormond's  service 
to  his  enmity;  and,  after  consultation  with  "his  two  friends,  sir 
George  Radcliffe  and  Mr.  Wandesford,"  the  youth  was  taken  into 
favour.  I  am  obliged  to  Mr.  Crofton  Croker  for  the  favour  of  this 
note,  which  I  find  in  a  manuscript  translation  he  has  been  good 
enough  to  lend  me,  of  the  Irish  portion  of  the  travels  of  a  gascon- 
ading coxcomb  of  a  Frenchman,  Sieur  de  la  Boullaye-le-Gouz,  who 
honoured  the  island  with  his  company  in  1644,  and  obliged  the 
world  with  a  most  amusing  account  of  his  visit.  This  very  Ormond 
was  then  viceroy,  and  the  part  he  had  himself  played  to  lord  Went- 
worth was  curiously  enough  rivalled  on  this  occasion  by  the  illustrious 
Le  Gouz.  "  I  followed  the  train,"  observes  our  traveller,  in  Mr. 
Croker's  happy  translation,  "  in  order  to  enter  more  freely  into  the 
castle,  but  at  the  door  they  ordered  me  to  lay  down  my  sword, 
which  I  would  not  do,  saying  that,  being  born  of  a  condition  to 
carry  it  before  the  king,  I  would  rather  not  see  the  castle  than  part 
with  my  arms.  A  gentleman  in  the  suite  of  the  viceroy,  seeing  from 
my  gallant  bearing  that  I  was  a  Frenchman,  took  me  by  the  hand, 
saying,  '  Strangers  shall  on  this  occasion  be  more  favoured  than 
residents,'  and  he  brought  me  in.  I  replied  to  him,  that  his  civility 
equalled — that  of  the  French  towards  his  na.  ion,  when  thty  met  them 
in  France!'''' 

^  It  was  one  of  the  strokes  of  the  lord  deputy's  policy  to  aggravate 
every  difference  between  the  two  houses.  He  describes,  with 
singular  sarcasm,  in  one  of  his  despatches,  a  difference  of  this  sort. 
"  The  commons  would  not  confer  with  the  lords,  unless  they  might 
sit  and  be  covered,  as  well  as  their  lordships,  which  the  other  would 
by  no  means  admit.  For  my  part  I  did  not  lay  it  very  near  my 
heart  to  agree  them,  as  having  heretofore  seen  the  effects  which 


158  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

sition — the  positive  enactment  of  various  salutary  regu- 
lations— the  consideration  of  grievances  !  ''  I  let  them 
alone,"  says  one  of  his  despatches,  "  till  the  last  day  that 
I  came  into  the  house  to  conclude  the  session ;  but  then, 
being  very  jealous  lest  in  my  time  any  thing  might  creep 
in,  and  grow  upon  the  king's  prerogative  in  this 
tender  and  important  particular  1,  I  clearly  declared 
they   had    therein    proceeded    further    than    they   had 

warrant  for and   did   beseech   their  lordships 

to  be  better  advised  for  the  future,  and  not  to  ex- 
ceed that  power  which  was  left  them  by  that  law,  to 
wit, — a  liberty  only  to  offer  by  petition  to  the  deputy 
and  council  such  considerations  as  they  might  con- 
ceive to  be  good  for  the  commonwealth,  by  them  to 
be  transmitted  for  laws,  or  staid,  as  to  them  should 
seem  best;  whereunto  they  condescended  without  any 
opposition." 

The  English  ministers  were  rapt  in  delight  and  aston- 
ishment !  As  the  time  approached,  however,  for  the 
second  session — the  session  of  "  graces  " — a  shadow  fell 
over  their  congratulations.  Bucklered  with  his  law  of 
Poynings,  the  lord  deputy  bravely  reassured  them. 
"  For  my  own  part,"  he  wrote  to  Cooke — in  the  apt 
simile  of  an  amusement  which  he  was  then,  in  the  in- 
tervals of  his  bodily  infirmities,  ardently  given  to — "for 
my  own  part,  I  see  not  any  hazard  in  it,  considering  that 
we  have  this  lyme  hound  in  our  power,  still  to  take  off 
when  we  please ;  which  is  not  so  easy  with  your  parlia- 


follow  when  they  are  in  strict  understanding,  or  at  difference  amongst 
themselves.  I  saw  plainly  that  keeping  them  at  distance  I  did 
avoid  their  joining  in  a  petition  for  the  graces." — Strafford  Papers, 
vol.  i.  p.  279. 

^  The  law  of  Poynings. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  159 

ments  of  England,  where  sometimes  they  hunt  loose, 
forth  of  command,  choose  and  give  over  their  own  game 
as  they  list  themselves."  ^  Further,  however,  to  quiet 
the  apprehensions  of  Charles,  and  induce  him  to  suffer 
the  continuance  of  parliament,  Wentworth  wrote  to  the 
king,  telling  him  that  the  lord  deputy  and  his  council 
meant  to  take  on  themselves  the  whole  responsibility 
and  blame  of  refusing  the  obnoxious  graces,  while  the 
whole  merit  of  granting  such  as  might  be  granted  safely 
should  be  given  to  his  majesty.^ 

Wentwoith  redeemed  his  pledge.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
describe  the  proceedings  of  that  session  at  any  length. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  arts  and  energy  of  the  first 
session  were  redoubled  to  a  greater  success  in  the  second. 
None  of  the  obnoxious  graces  were  accorded.  He 
openly  told  the  parliament  that  he  had  refused  even  to 
transmit  them  to  England,  and  asserted  his  right  to 
do  this  under  the  law  of  Poynings.^  For  a  time,  the 
overbearing  energy  of  his  measures  forced  the  members 

1  Straflford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  305.  Wentworth  preserved  through 
life,  notwithstanding  his  frightful  illnesses,  the  most  passionate  fond- 
ness for  hunting  and  hawking.  It  is  curious  to  observe,  in  his 
accounts  of  these  amusements,  an  occasional  letting  out  of  another 
object  he  may  have  had  in  them,  besides  that  of  personal  enjoyment. 
They  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  display.  "Your  defeat  of  your 
hawking  sport  in  Wiltshire,"  he  writes  at  about  this  time  to  Cotting- 
ton,  "  is  nothing  like  to  mine  ;  for  (as  the  man  you  wot  of  said  by 
the  pigeons)  here  hath  not  been  a  partridge  in  the  memory  of  man, 
so  as  having  a  passing  high  flying  tarsell  I  am  even  setting  him 
down,  and  to-morrow  purpose,  with  a  cast  or  two  of  sparhawks,  to 
betake  myself  to  fly  at  blackbirds,  ever  and  anon  taking  them  on 
the  pate  with  a  trunk.  It  is  excellent  sport,  there  being  sometimes 
200  horse  on  the  field  looking  tipon  us,  where  the  lord  of  Fonsail 
drops  out  of  doors  with  a  poor  falconer  or  two  ;  and  if  sir  Robert 
Wind  and  Gabriel  Epsley  be  gotten  along,  it  is  a  regale. " — Strafford 
Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  163, 

2  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  328.  And  see  the  despatch  to 
Cooke,  vol.  i.  p.  338. 

^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  345.  et  seq. 


i6o  BROWNING'S  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD. 

to  the  silence  of  fear, — but  this  was  broken  by  the 
catholic  party,  who,  having  suffered  the  most  grievous 
wrong  in  the  deception,  at  last  made  a  feeble  show  of 
resistance.  Wentworth  instantly  flung  all  his  influence 
for  the  first  time  among  the  protestants,  and  precipitated 
the  catholics  into  a  trial  of  their  strength,  unadvised  with 
each  other,  and  utterly  unprepared.  They  were  at  once 
defeated.  The  protestants  then  claimed  their  reward, 
and  with  an  earnestness  which  was  only  finally  subdued 
by  the  lord  deputy's  threats  of  worse  terrors  than  those 
which  their  wrongs  included.^  He  had  nothing  left  now 
but  to  write  one  of  his  most  pleasing  despatches  to  his 
royal  master,  containing  "  at  once  a  clear  and  full  relation 
of  the  issue  of  this  second  session,  which  was,  through 
the  wayward  frowardness  of  the  popish  party,  so  trouble- 
some upon  the  first  access,  but  is  now  recovered  and 
determined  by  the  good  assistance  of  the  protestants, 
with  great  advantage  to  your  majesty,  by  those  excellent 
and  beneficial  laws  which,  with  much  tugging,  are  gotten 
from  them  ;  and  all  the  graces  prejudicial  to  the  crown 
laid  also  so  sound  asleep  as  I  am  confident  they  are  never 

1**1  roundly  and  earnestly  told  them  I  was  very  indifferent  what 
resolution  the  house  should  fall  upon,  serving  too  just  and  gracious 
a  master  ever  to  fear  to  be  answerable  for  the  success  of  affairs  in 
contingence,  so  long  as  I  did  sincerely  and  faithfully  endeavour  that 
which  I  conceived  to  be  for  the  best.  That  there  were  two  ends  1 
had  my  eye  on,  and  the  one  I  wojcld  infallibly  attain  imto, — either  a 
submission  of  the  people  to  his  majesty'' s  just  demands,  or  a  just  occa- 
sion of  breach,  and  either  would  content  the  king.  The  first  was 
undeniably  and  evidently  best  for  them  ;  but  could  my  master  in  his 
goodness  consider  himself  apart  from  his  subjects,  or  these  become 
so  inn:rate,  /  spake  it  conftdetitly  iipon  the  peril  of  my  head,  a  breach 
should  be  better  for  hijn  than  any  supply  they  cotdd  give  him  in 
farli.ment.  And  therefore  I  did  desire  that  no  man  should  deceive 
himself:  my  master  was  not  to  seek  in  his  counsels,  nor  was  he  a 
prince  that  either  could  or  would  be  denied  just  things."  For  the 
various  incidents  of  this  session,  see  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp. 
320,  321.  328.  339.  341.  343,  344,  345,  349.  353. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE  OF  STRAFFORD.  i6l 

10  be  awakened  mover  ^  In  the  next  despatch  he  had 
the  satisfaction  of  assuring  his  majesty,  that  the  privilege 
of  impeachment  had  been  wrested  both  from  lords  and 
commons  ^ ;  in  the  next,  that  certain  troubles  of  the  con- 
vocation had  been  most  emphatically  silenced  ^ ;  and  in 
the  next,  that  his  majesty  was  now,  in  the  person  of  his 
humble  deputy,  the  uncontrolled  disposer  of  the  destinies 
of  Ireland  !  "  So  now  I  can  say,"  wrote  Wentworth  at 
the  close  of  a  long  despatch,  which  by  the  same 
messenger  he  had  forwarded  to  Laud,  and  which  con- 
tains a  remarkable  summary  of  the  many  important 
services  he  had  rendered  to  the  crown, — ^^  so  now  I  can 
say  the  king  is  as  absolute  here  as  any  prince  in  the  whole 
world  can  be,  and  may  be  still,  if  it  be  not  spoiled  on  that 
side.  For,  so  long  as  his  majesty  shall  have  here  a 
deputy  of  faith  and  understanding,  and  that  he  be  pre- 
served in  credit,  and  independent  upon  any  but  the  kin^ 
himself,  let  it  be  laid,  as  a  ground,  it  is  the  deputy's 
fault  if  the  king  be  denied  any  reasonable  desire." 

This  was  grateful  news  to  Laud.     Of  all  the  suggesters 

^  In  the  same  despatch  (which  see  in  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i,  p. 
341.)  Wentworth  urges  upon  the  king  the  necessity  of  his  sur- 
rendering matters  of  patronage  and  so  forth  more  immediately  into 
his  lord  deputy's  hands: — "The  fewer  sharers  in  the  service,  the 
fewer  there  will  be  to  press  for  rewards,  to  the  lessening  of  your 
majesty's  profit,  and  the  more  entire  will  the  benefit  be  preserved 
for  your  crown  ;  which  must,  in  all  these  affairs,  and  shall,  be  my 

principal,  NAY,    INDEED,    MY   SOLE   END." 

2  See  the  case  of  sir  Vincent  Gookin,  Papers,  vol.  i,  pp.  349.  and 
393.  Wentworth  established  by  this  case,  that,  under  Poyning's 
law,  acts  of  judicature  no  less  than  of  legislation,  were  prohibited, 
save  by  consent  of  the  deputy  and  his  council. 

3  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  342—345.  "I  am  not 
ignorant,"  subjoined  Wentworth  to  this  despatch,  with  a  sort  of 
involuntary  forecast  of  an  after  reckoning,  which  he  threw  off  in  a 
self-deceiving  jest, — "  I  am  not  ignorant  that  my  stirring  herein  will 
be  strangely  reported,  and  censured  on  that  side ;  and  how  I  shall 
be  able  to  sustain  myself  against  your  Prynnes,  Pirns,  and  Bens,  zvith 
the  rest  of  that  generation  of  odd  names  and  natures,  the  Lord  knows. " 

M 


1 62  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

of  the  infamous  counsels  of  Charles,  Laud  and  Wentworth 
were  the  most  sincere  : — Laud,  from  the  intense  faith 
with  which  he  looked  forward  to  the  possible  supremacy 
of  the  ecclesiastical  power,  and  to  which  he  was  bent 
upon  going,  "  thorough,"  through  every  obstacle ; — 
Wentworth,  from  that  strong  sense,  with  which  birth  and 
education  had  perverted  his  genius,  of  the  superior  ex- 
cellence of  despotic  rule.  Their  friendship,  in  conse- 
quence, notwithstanding  Wentworth's  immense  superiority 
in  point  of  intellect  ^,  continued  tolerably  firm  and  steady, 
— most  firm,  indeed,  considering  the  nature  of  their 
public  connection.2  The  letters  which  passed  between 
them  partook  of  a  more  intimate  character,  in  respect  of 
the  avowal  of  ulterior  designs,  than  either  of  them,  pro- 
bably, chose  to  avow  elsewhere;  and  though  many  of 
their  secrets  have  been  effectually  concealed  from  us  by 
their  frequent  use  of  cypliers,  sufficient  remain  to  shadow 
forth  the  extremest  purposes  of  both. 


^  It  is  amusing  at  times  to  observe  the  commissions  to  which 
Wentworth  descended  for  the  gratification  of  Laud,  laughing  at 
them  secretly  while  he  gravely  discharged  them.  The  archbishop 
himself,  however,  had  an  occasional  suspicion  of  this  ;  and  is  to  be 
seen  at  times  insinuating,  from  beneath  velvet  words,  a  cat-like 
claw: — "I  perceive  you  mean  to  build,"  he  writes  to  the  lord 
deputy  on  one  occasion,  "but  as  yet  your  materials  are  not  come 
in  ;  but  if  that  work  do  come  to  me  before  Christmas,  as  you  promise 
it  shall,  I  will  rifle  every  corner  in  it :  and  you  know,  my  good  lord, 
after  all  your  bragging,  how  I  served  you  at  York,  and  your  church 
work  there  :  especially  I  pray  provide  a  good  riding  house,  if  there  be 
ever  a  decayed  body  of  a  church  to  make  it  in,  and  then  you  shall  be 
•well  fitted,  for  yoit  hiow  one  is  made  your  stable  already,  if  you  have 
not  reformed  it,  of  which  I  did  look  for  an  account  according  to  my 
remembrances  before  this  time."  Vol.  i.  p.  156.  Wentworth  had 
forgotten  one  of  his  friend's  first  commissions,  which  the  reader  will 
recollect  to  have  been  quoted. 

^  A  curious  and  instructive  essay  might  be  gleaned  from  the 
Strafford  Papers,  on  the  subject  of  the  friendships  of  statesmen,  or, 
rather  say,  of  a  king's  advisers  ;  for  the  majority  of  these  men  did 
not  deserve  the  name  of  statesmen. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  163 

Laud  had  to  regret  his  position  in  England,  contrasted 
with  that  of  the  Irish  deputy.  *'  My  lord,"  he  writes  to 
Wentvvorth,  speaking  of  the  general  affairs  of  church  and 
state,  "  to  speak  freely,  you  may  easily  promise  more  in 
either  kind  than  I  can  perform  :  for,  as  for  the  church,  it 
is  so  bound  up  in  the  forms  of  the  common  law,  that  it 
is  not  possible  for  me,  or  for  any  man,  to  do  that  good 
which  he  would,  or  is  bound  to  do.  For  your  lordship 
sees,  no  man  clearer,  that  they  which  have  gotten  so 
much  power  in  and  over  the  church  will  not  let  go  their 
hold ;  they  have,  indeed,  fangs  with  a  witness,  whatsoever 
I  was  once  said  in  a  passion  to  have.  And  for  the  state, 
indeed,  my  lord,  I  am  for  Thorough  ;  but  I  see  that  both 
thick  and  thin  stays  somebody,  where  I  conceive  it  should 
not ;  and  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  go  thorough  alone. 
Besides,  private  ends  are  such  blocks  in  the  public  way, 
and  lie  so  thick,  that  you  may  promise  what  you  will, 
and  I  must  perform  what  I  can,  and  no  more."  ^  To 
this  Wentworth  answers  in  a  letter  which  is  not  preserved. 
Its  import,  however,  may  be  gathered  from  this  remark- 
able passage  in  Laud's  rejoinder  : — "  I  am  very  glad  to 
read  your  lordship  so  resolute,  and  more  to  hear  you 
affirm,  that  the  footing  of  them  which  go  thorough  for 
our  master's  service  is  not  now  upon  fee,  as  it  hath  been. 
But  you  are  withal  upon  so  many  ifs,  that  by  their  help 
you  may  preserve  any  man  upon  ice,  be  it  never  so 
slippery.  As,  first,  if  the  common  lawyers  may  be  con- 
tained within  their  ancient  and  sober  bounds ;  if  the 
word  Thorough  be  not  left  out  (as  I  am  certain  it  is) ;  if 
we  grow  not  faint ;  if  we  ourselves  be  not  in  fault ;  if  it 
come  not  to peccatum  ex  te  Israel ;  {/"others  will  do  their 
parts  as  thoroughly  as  you  promise  for  yourself,  and 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  iii. 


1 64  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

justly  conceive  of  me.  Now,  I  pray,  with  so  many  and 
such  ifs  as  these,  what  may  not  be  done,  and  in  a  brave 
and  noble  way?  But  can  you  tell  when  these  ifs  will 
meet,  or  be  brought  together?"  i  Satisfactory  is  the 
lord  deputy's  returning  assurance  : — "  For  the  ifs  your 
lordship  is  pleased  to  impute  ui-to  me,  you  shall  hereafter 
have  more  positive  doctrine.  I  know  no  reason^  then^ 
but  you  may  as  well  rule  the  common  lawyers  in  England^ 
as  /,  poor  beagle^  do  here  ;  and  yet  that  I  do,  and  will  do^ 
in  all  that  concerns  my  masters  service,  upon  the  peril  of 
my  head.  I  am  confident  that  the  king,  being  pleased 
to  set  himself  in  the  business,  is  able,  by  his  wisdom  and 
ministers,  to  carry  any  just  and  honourable  action 
thorough  all  imaginary  opposition,  for  real  there  can  be 
none  ;  that  to  start  aside  for  such  panic  fears,  fantastic 
apparitions,  as  a  Prynne  or  an  Eliot  shall  set  up,  were 
the  meanest  folly  in  the  whole  world ;  that  the  debts  of  the 
crown  taken  off,  you  may  govern  as  you  please ;  and 
most  resolute  I  am  that  work  may  be  done,  without  borrow- 
ing any  help  forth  of  the  king's  lodgings,  and  that  is  as 
downright  a  peccatum  ex  te  Israel  as  ever  was,  if  all  this 
be  not  effected  with  speed  and  ease.''^  ^ 

Resolutely  did  the  lord  deputy,  as  I  have  shown, 
realise  these  principles, — and  every  new  act  of  despotism 
which  struck  terror  into  Ireland  shot  comfort  to  the  heart 
of  Laud.  "  As  for  my  marginal  note,"  exclaims  the 
archbishop,  "  I  see  you  deciphered  it  well,  and  I  see  you 
make  use  of  it  too, — do  so  still;  thorow  and  thorow. 
Oh  that  I  were  where   I   might  go  so  too  !  but  I  am 


^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  155. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  173.  Following  this  passage,  in  the  same 
letter,  is  language  which  it  would  be  a  gross  outrage  of  decency  to 
quote.     The  archbishop  appears  to  have  relished  it  exceedingly. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  165 

shackled  between  delays  and  uncertainties.  You  have  a 
great  deal  of  honour  here  for  your  proceedings.  Go  on 
a  God's  name  ! "  ^  And  on  Wentworth  went,  stopping  at 
no  gratuitous  quarrel  that  had  the  slightest  chance  of 
pleasing  the  archbishop,  even  to  the  demolishing  the 
family  tomb  of  the  earl  of  Cork, — since  his  grace,  among 
his  select  ecclesiastical  researches,  had  discovered  that 
the  spot  occupied  by  ray  lord  of  Cork's  family  monu- 
ments, was  precisely  that  spot  upon  which  the  com- 
munion-table, to  answer  the  purposes  of  heaven,  ought 
to  stand !  ^  To  minister  to  their  mutual  purposes, 
Wentworth  also  introduced  into  Ireland  the  court  of  high 
commission,  and  wrested  it  to  various  notable  purposes, 
political  as  well  as  religious. 

The  distinction  between  him  and  his  confederate 
during  all  these  proceedings  is,  nevertheless,  to  be  dis- 
cerned as  widely  as  the  difference  of  their  respective 
intellects.  Wentworth  was  a  despot,  but  his  despotism 
included  many  noble,  though  misguided,  purposes.  Even 
with  this  high  commission  court,  unjustifiable  as  were 
the  means,  he  unquestionably  effected  an  increase  to  the 
respectability  and  usefulness  of  the  clergy,  and  reformed 
the  ecclesiastical  courts, — while,  at  the  same  time,  he 
never  lost  sight  of  the  great  present  object  of  his  govern- 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  329. 

^  It  would  be  impossible  to  notice  in  detail  the  various  personal 
contests  in  which  Wentworth  engaged,  though  none  of  them  passed, 
not  even  the  most  trifling,  without  illustrating,  in  a  remarkable 
degree,  the  general  features  of  his  character,  I  may  refer  the  reader 
respecting  this  affair  of  the  earl  of  Cork  to  the  Strafford  Papers,  vol. 
i.  pp.  156.  200.  216.  222.  257.  298,  379.  459,,  and  to  vol.  ii.  p.  270. 
and  p.  338.  Lord  Cork  hit  upon  an  ingenious  plan  of  thwarting 
the  lord  deputy,  though  it  failed  in  consequence  of  the  superior 
influence  of  the  latter.  He  wrote  to  the  lord  treasurer  Weston,  then 
notoriously  jealous  of  Wentworth,  and  opposed  to  him  and  Laud, 
*'  entreating  his  favour,  for  that  under  this  monument  the  bones  of 
a  Weston  was  entombed." 


1 66     _    BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

ment,  that  it  should,  "in  the  way  to  all  these,  raise, 
perhaps,  a  good  revenue  to  the  crown."  i  So,  while 
Laud,  in  England,  was,  by  a  series  of  horrible  persecutions, 
torturing  and  mutilating  the  puritans  2,  the  deputy  of 
Ireland  could  boast  with  perfect  truth  that,  "  since  I  had 
the  honour  to  be  employed  in  this  place,  no  hair  of  any 
man's  head  hath  been  touched  for  the  free  exercise  of 
his  conscience."  ^ 

It  is  also  due  to  Wentworth  to  observe  that,  while,  at 
this  time,  with  a  view  to  the  furtherance  of  his  general 
scheme  of  government,  he  conceived  the  vast  and  un- 
attainable project  of  reducing  all  the  people  of  Ireland 
to  a  conformity  in  religion,  the  measures  by  which  he 
sought  to  accomplish  that  project  were,  many  of  them, 
conceived  in  the  profoundest  spirit  of  a  large  and  wide- 
reaching  policy.     Theological  strife  he  knew  the  useless 


^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  187. 

2  "Mr.  Prynne,  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  who  hath  got  his  ears 
sewed  on  that  they  grew  again  as  before  to  his  head,  is  relapsed 
into  new  errors." — Letter  of  his  newsmonger,  Gerrard,  to  Wentivorth, 
Strafford  Papers^  vol.  i.  p.  266.  Again  Prynne's  ears  expiated  those 
"  new  errors."  Laud's  own  notice  in  his  diary  (Nov.  1630.),  of  the 
punishment  of  Leighton,  a  Scotch  divine,  the  father  of  bishop 
Leighton,  is  more  horrible; — "Friday,  Nov.  16.,  part  of  his  sen- 
tence was  executed  upon  him  in  this  manner,  in  the  new  palace  at 
Westminster,  in  term  time.  i.  He  was  severely  whipped  before  he 
was  put  in  the  pillory.  2.  Being  set  in  the  pillory,  he  had  one  of 
his  ears  cut  off.  3.  One  side  of  his  nose  slit.  4,  Branded  on  one 
cheek  with  a  red-hot  iron,  with  the  letters  S  S.  And,  on  that  day 
sevennight,  his  sores  upon  his  back,  ear,  nose,  and  face  being  not 
cured,  he  was  whipped  again  at  the  pillory  in  Cheapside,  and  there 
had  the  remainder  of  his  sentence  executed  upon  him,  by  cutting  off 
the  other  ear,  slitting  the  other  side  of  the  nose,  and  branding  the 
other  cheek."  Leighton  was  released,  after  ten  years'  captivity,  by 
the  Long  Parliament,  having  by  that  time  lost  his  sight,  his  hearing, 
and  the  use  of  his  limbs. 

^  See  his  letter  to  Con,  the  popish  resident,  Strafford  Papers,  vol. 
ii.  p.  112.  His  correspondences  with  this  person  are  in  all  respects 
curious,  and,  to  me,  significant  of  a  purpose  which  his  death  pre- 
vented the  open  disclosure  of. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  167 

horrors  of, — and  he  soon  discovered,  by  his  "  experience 
of  both  houses,"  that  "  the  root  of  all  disorders  in  this 
kingdom  is  the  universal  dependence  of  the  popish  faction 
upon  Jesuits  and  friars."  ^  He  speedily  declared  his 
determination  to  the  king  himself.  "  I  judge  it,  without 
all  question,  far  the  greatest  service  that  can  be  done  unto 
your  crowns,  on  this  side,  to  draw  Ireland  into  a  con- 
formity of  religion  with  England;  which,  indeed,  would 
undoubtedly  set  your  majesty  in  greater  strength  and 
safety,  within  your  own  dominions,  than  any  thing  now 
left  by  the  great  and  happy  wisdom  of  yourself  and 
blessed  father  unaccomplished,  to  make  us  an  happy 
and  secure  people  within  ourselves.  And  yet,  this  being 
a  work  rather  to  be  effected  by  judgment  and  degrees 
than  by  a  giddy  zeal  and  haste,  whenever  it  shall  seem 
good  in  your  wisdom  to  attempt  it  (for  I  am  confident  it 
is  left  as  a  means  whereby  to  glorify  your  majesty's  piety 
to  posterity),  there  will,  in  the  way  towards  it,  many 
things  fall  continually  in  debate  and  consideration  at  the 
board,  with  which  it  will  be  very  unfit  any  of  the  contrary 
religion  be  acquainted."  ^ 

Urged  by  the  English  council,  he  set  about  the  great 
work.  Undisguised  was  the  astonishment  of  the  arch- 
bishop, however,  at  the  slow  and  gradual  means  proposed 
by  the  lord  deputy.  His  grace  had  fancied  that  the 
trouts  who  had  been  so  completely  tickled  out  of  their 
money  ^  might  be  as  easily  tickled  out  of  their  religion, 
or  any  thing  else.  The  lord  Wentworth  thought  differ- 
ently.    "  It  will  be  ever  far  forth  of  my  heart,"  he  wrote, 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  431,  432.  2  \\\^^  p_  307. 

3  "  Now  fie  upon  it,  if  the  salmon  of  that  river  be  bad,  yet  your 
loss  is  the  less,  since  you  have  so  many  trouts  that  may  be  tickled 
into  anything,  or  anything  out  of  them." — Laud  to  Wentworth^ 
Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  329. 


1 68  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

in  answer  to  urgent  pressings  of  the  question,  accom- 
panied with  especial  requests  for  the  enforcing  of  fines 
for  nonconformity,  ''to  conceive  that  a  conformity  in 
rehgion  is  not  above  all  other  things  principally  to  be 
intended.  For,  undoubtedly,  till  we  be  brought  all  under 
one  form  of  divine  service,  the  crown  is  never  safe  on 
this  side ;  but  yet  the  time  and  circumstances  may  very 
well  be  discoursed,  and  sure  I  do  not  hold  this  a  fit 
season  to  disquiet  or  sting  them  in  this  kind ;  and  my 
reasons  are  divers.  This  course  alone  will  never  bring 
them  to  church,  being  rather  an  engine  to  drain  money 
out  of  their  pockets,  than  to  raise  a  right  belief  and  faith 
in  their  hearts,  and  so  doth  not  indeed  tend  to  that  end 
it  sets  forth.  The  subsidies  are  now  in  paying,  which 
were  given  with  an  universal  alacrity ;  and  very  graceful 
it  will  be  in  the  king  to  indulge  them  otherwise  as  much 
as  may  be  till  they  be  paid.  It  were  too  much  at  once 
to  distemper  them,  by  bringing  plantations  upon  them, 
and  disturbing  them  in  the  exercise  of  their  religion,  so 
long  as  it  be  without  scandal.  And  so,  indeed,  very 
inconsiderate,  as  I  conceive,  to  move  in  this  latter,  till 
that  former  be  fully  settled,  and  by  that  means  the 
protestant  party  become  by  much  the  stronger,  which,  in 
truth,  as  yet  I  do  not  conceive  it  to  be.  Lastly,  the 
great  work  of  reformation  ought  not,  in  my  opinion,  to 
be  fallen  upon,  till  all  incidents  be  fully  provided  for,  the 
army  rightly  furnished,  the  forts  repaired,  money  in  the 
coffers,  and  such  a  preparation  in  view  as  might  deter 
any  malevolent  licentious  spirit  to  stir  up  ill  humour  in 
opposition  to  his  majesty's  pious  intendments  therein ; 
nor  ought  the  execution  of  this  to  proceed  by  step  or 
degrees,  but  all  rightly  dispersed,  to  be  undertaken  and 
gone  through  withal  at  once.     And  certainly  in  the  mean 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  169 

time,  the  less  you  call  the  conceit  of  it  into  their  memory, 
the  better  it  will  be  for  us,  and  themselves  the  quieter ; 
— so,  as  if  there  were  no  wiser  than  I,  the  bishops  should 
be  privately  required  to  forbear  these  ecclesiastical  censures 
till  they  understood  further  of  his  majesty's  pleasure 
therein.^''  ^ 

Steadily  he  proceeded,  as  if  already  in  the  far,  but  not 
uncertain,  distance,  he  saw  the  accomplishment  of  this 
extraordinary  design.  He  began  at  what  he  conceived 
to  be  the  root  of  the  evil.  The  churches  had  fallen  to 
ruin;  the  church  revenues  had  been  cut  to  pieces  by 
long  leases  and  fraudulent  appropriations  ;  and  the  offices 
of  the  church  had  been  given  into  the  hands  of  the 
ignorant, — since  to  such  only  the  abject  poverty  of  her 
means  offered  any  of  the  inducements  of  service.^ 
"Now,"  wrote  Wentworth  to  the  still  precipitate  arch- 
bishop, "  to  attempt  the  reducing  of  this  kingdom  to  a 
conformity  in  religion  with  the  church  of  England,  before 
the  decays  of  the  material  churches  here  be  repaired,  an 
able  clergy  be  provided,  that  so  there  might  be  both 
wherewith  to  receive,  instruct,  and  keep  the  people,  were 
as  a  man  going  to  warfare  without  munition  or  arms.  It 
being,  therefore,  most  certain  that  this  to  be  wished 
rejormation  must  first  woik  from  ourselves^  I  am  bold  to 
transmit  over  to  your  grace  these  i^^^  propositions,  for 
the  better  ordering  this   poor  church,  which  hath  thus 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  49. 

2  The  reader  will  be  startled,  probably,  to  hear  the  value  of  some 
of  the  Irish  bishopricks  in  that  day.  "The  old  bishop  of  Kilfanora," 
writes  Wentworth  to  Laud,  "  is  dead,  and  his  bishoprick  one  of 
those  which,  when  it  falls,  goes  a  begging  for  a  new  husband,  being 
not  worth  above  fourscore  pounds  to  the  last  man  :  yet  in  the  hand- 
ling  of  an  understanding  prelate  it  might  perchatice  grow  to  be  war.  h 
two  hundred  pounds,  but  then  it  will  cost  money  in  suit." — Strafford 
Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  172. 


lyo  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

long  laid  in  the  silent  dark.  The  best  entrance  to  the 
cure  will  be,  clearly  to  discover  the  state  of  the  patient, 
which  I  find  many  ways  distempered ; — an  unlearned 
clergy,  which  have  not  so  much  as  the  outward  form  of 
churchmen  to  cover  themselves  with,  nor  their  persons 
any  ways  reverenced  or  protected;  the  churches  unbuilt; 
the  parsonage  and  vicarage  houses  utterly  ruined;  the 
people  untaught  thorough  the  non-residency  of  the 
clergy,  occasioned  by  the  unlimited  shameful  numbers 
of  spiritual  promotions  with  cure  of  souls,  which  they 
hold  by  commendams ;  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
church  run  over  without  all  decency  of  habit,  order,  or 
gravity,  in  the  course  of  their  service ;  the  possessions  of 
the  church,  to  a  great  proportion,  in  lay-hands ;  the 
bishops  farming  out  their  jurisdictions  to  mean  and 
unworthy  persons: — "and  so,  through  all  the  sources 
of  the  evil,  in  a  despatch  of  elaborate  learning  and 
profound  suggestion,  the  lord  deputy  proceeds,  enforcing 
upon  the  archbishop,  finally,  that  he  must  surrender  his 
present  hopes  of  any  immediate  result.  "  It  would  be 
a  brainsick  zeal  and  a  goodly  reformation  truly,"  he 
exclaims,  in  a  supplementary  despatch  of  yet  greater 
energy  and  earnestness,  "to  force  a  conformity  to  a 
religion,  whereas  yet  there  is  hardly  to  be  found  a  church 
to  receive,  or  an  able  minister  to  teach,  the  people.  No, 
no ;  let  us  fit  ourselves  in  these  two,  and  settle  his 
majesty's  payments  for  the  army,  discharge  his  debts, 
and  then  have  with  them  and  spare  not !  I  believe  the 
hottest  will  not  set  his  foot  faster  or  further  on  than  I 
shall  do.  In  the  mean  time,  I  appeal  to  any  equal- 
minded  man,  whether  they  or  I  be  more  in  the  right." 

Unparalleled  were  the  confidence  and   self-possessed 
resource  with  which  Wentworth's  great  schemes  now  ran 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  171 

side  by  side.  At  one  and  the  same  moment  he  forced 
the  revenue  by  which  his  projected  buildings  in  the 
church  were  to  be  raised,  and  cleared  away  the  obstruc- 
tions which  still  covered  the  sites  he  had  selected.  The 
decision  of  ecclesiastical  rights  was  removed  by  him  from 
the  courts  of  common  law  to  the  Castle-chamber;  the 
earl  of  Cork  was  forced  to  restore  an  annual  revenue  of 
2000/.,  which  had  been  originally  wrested  from  the 
church ;  and,  understanding  that  the  bishop  of  Killala 
had  been  meddling  with  underhand  bargains  to  defraud 
his  see,  he  sent  for  him  to  the  presence  chamber,  and 
told  him,  with  open  and  bitter  severity,  that  he  deserved 
to  have  his  surplice  pulled  over  his  ears,  and  to  be  turned 
out  of  the  church  on  a  stipend  of  four  nobles  a  year  !  ^ 
His  usual  success  followed  these  measures ;  lands  and 
tithes  came  pouring  into  his  hands;  and  he  issued  a 
commission  for  the  repair  of  churches,  and  won  for  it  a 
ready  obedience.^ 

In  the  midst  of  his  labours,  Wentvvorth  turned  aside, 
for  a  moment,  to  prefer  a  personal  suit  to  the  king. 
Consideration  in  the  eyes  of  those  over  whom  he  held  so 
strict  and  stern  a  hand,  was  beyond  all  things  valuable 
to  him.  It  was,  indeed,  the  very  materiel  of  his  scheme 
of  government.  He  appears  therefore  to  have  felt  at 
this  time,  that  some  sudden  and  great  promotion  from  the 
king  to  himself  would  give  his  government  an  exaltation 

^  See  the  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  151 — 156.  171.  380.  &c. 

2  One  or  two  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  measures  he  projected 
incidental  to  this  purpose  of  conformity,  may  be  mentioned  hei-e. 
The  reader  must  examine  Wentworth's  various  despatches,  if  he 
desires  to  master  the  knowledge  of  them  all.  He  took  resolute 
steps  to  prevent  the  children  of  catholics  from  being  sent  to  foreign 
convents  for  their  education.  He  proposed  the  erection  of  a  vast 
number  of  protestant  schools  throughout  Ireland  with  large  endow- 
ments and  able  teachers.  I^e  enforced  the  most  rigorous  penalties 
upon  non-residence.     See  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  393,  j  vol.  ii.  p.  7. 


172  BROWNING'S  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD. 

in  the  eyes  of  that  "  wild  and  rude  people,"  of  infinite 
iKiportance  to  its  security.  His  claims  upon  the  king 
were  immeasurable,  as  his  services  had  been  admitted  to 
be.  He  wrote  to  him,  to  solicit  an  earldom.  "  The 
ambition,"  he  said,  "which  moves  me  powerfully  to  serve 
your  majesty,  as  my  obligations  are  above  those  that 
preceded  in  this  imployment,  suggests  unto  me  an  hope 
I  may  be  more  enabled  in  these  restless  desires  of  mine, 
if  I  might,  before  our  meeting  again  in  parliament,  receive 
so  great  a  mark  of  your  favour  as  to  have  this  family 
honoured  with  an  earldom.  I  have  chosen  therefore 
with  all  humbleness  to  address  these  lines  immediately 
to  yourself,  as  one  utterly  purposed  to  acknowledge  all 
to  your  princely  grace,  and  without  deriving  the  least  of 
the  privity  of  thanks  elsewhere."  A  characteristic  desire 
closed  the  letter,  that  "  no  other  person  know  hereafter 
your  majesty  found  it  in  your  wisdom  not  fit  to  be 
done."  1  And  such  was  Charles's  short-sighted  and 
selfish  wisdom  !  He  refused  the  request.  It  was  suffi- 
cient for  his  purpose  that  Wentworth  was  now  indis- 
solubly  bound  to  him,  since  the  personal  hatred  his 
measures  had  already  excited  in  the  English  popular 
party  precluded  the  possibility  of  his  return  to  them. 
Nor  had  Wentworth  provoked  the  hatred  of  the  popular 
party  alone.  Under  his  superior  tyranny,  the  lords  of 
petty  despotism    had    been    crushed  2,    and    incapable 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  301,  302. 

2  His  inquiries  into  questionable  titles  and  church  grants  had 
exploded  many  a  little  tyrant,  though  in  this  way  much  private  wrong 
was  done.  The  servants  of  the  English  court,  however,  could  never 
exactly  understand  his  policy  in  respect  of  opposition  to  the  aris- 
tocracy, and  especially  his  habit  of  sternly  refusing  any  presents  or 
conciliatory  favours  from  them.  I  quote  a  characteristic  passage 
from  a  despatch  of  the  secretary  Windebank. — "  Though,  while  we 
had  the  happiness  and  honour  to  have  your  assistance  here  at  the 
council  board,  you  made  many  ill  faces  with  your  pen  {pardon^  I 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  173 

oppressors  had  become  the  lord  deputy's  fiercest  accusers 
of  oppression.  To  please  the  king,  moreover,  he  had 
taken  upon  himself  the  refusal  of  various  offices  to  his 
more  importunate  courtiers,  careless  of  the  odium  he 
provoked  and  scorned.  To  heap  upon  him  any  marks 
of  personal  favour,  under  such  circumstances,  was  an  act 
of  courage  and  honesty  which  the  weak  monarch  did  not 
dare  attempt.  Such  wretched  tools  as  Buckingham  were 
more  to  his  personal  liking,  though  less  in  the  balance  of 
his  treasury!  "I  desire  you  not  to  think,"  he  wrote, 
after  refusing  the  lord  deputy's  suit,  "  that  I  am  displeased 
with  the  asking,  though  for  the  present  I  grant  it  not. 
For,  I  acknowledge  that  noble  minds  are  always  accom- 
panied with  lawful  ambitions.  And  be  confident  that 
your  services  have  moved  me  more  than  it  is  possible  for 
any  eloquence  or  importunity  to  do.  So  that  your  letter 
was  not  the  first  proposer  of  putting  marks  of  favour  on 
you;  and  I  am  certain  that  you  will  willingly  stay  my 
time,  now  ye  know  my  mind  so  freely ;  that  I  may  do  all 
things  a  mi  modo.^'  ^ 

This  refusal  was  sorely  felt  by  Wentworth.     Covering 


beseech  your  lordship,  the  over  free  censure  of  your  Vandyking),  and 
worse  oftentimes  with  your  speeches,  especially  in  the  business  of 
the  lord  Falconberg,  sir  Thomas  Gore,  Vermuyden,  and  others,  yet 
I  understand  you  make  worse  there  in  Ireland,  and  there  never 
appeared  a  worse  face  under  a  cork  upon  a  bottle,  than  your  lordship 
hath  caused  some  to  make  in  disgorging  such  church  livings  as  their 
zeal  had  eaten  up.  Another  remarkable  error  of  your  lordship, 
which  makes  much  noise  here,  is  that  you  refuse  all  presents,  for 
which  in  one  particular  you  had  your  reward.  Fo7%  it  is  said,  that 
a  servant  bringing  you  a  present  from  his  master,  and  your  lordship 
refusing  it,  the  sei-vant  liketvise  would  have  none  of  your  reward. 
By  this  your  lordship  may  perceive  how  circumspect  you  have  reason 
to  be  oj  your  ways,  considering  how  many  maliciotis  eyes  are  upon  you, 
and  what  interpretations  thiy  make  of  your  actions.''^ — Strajord 
Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  161. 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  332. 


174  BROWNING'S  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD. 

their  allusion  to  the  king,  he  threw  into  his  next  despatch 
to  Cottington  some  expressions  of  uneasy  regret.  '•  I 
spend  more  here  tnan  I  have  of  entertainments  from  his 
majesty,  I  suffer  extreamly  in  my  own  private  at  home,  I 
spend  my  body  and  spirits  with  extream  toil,  I  sometimes 
undergo  the  misconstructions  of  those  I  conceived,  should 
not,  would  not,  have  used  me  so.  .  .  .  But  I  am  resolved 
to  complain  of  nothing.  I  have  been  something  unpros- 
perous,  slowly  heard,  and  as  coldly  answered  that  way. 
I  will  either  subsist  by  the  integrity  of  my  own  actions, 
or  I  will  perish."  1  ■ 

The  lord  deputy's  relief  was  in  the  measures  with 
which  his  enterprising  genius  had  surrounded  him.  I 
have  alluded  to  his  repression  of  certain  turbulences  that 
had  arisen  in  the  convocation  : — he  now,  by  his  personal 
influence,  prevailed  with  the  learned  Usher  to  surrender 
the  ecclesiastical  articles  he  had  forwarded  to  Ireland, 
and  which  were  any  thing  but  acceptable  to  Laud ;  he 
forced  upon  the  clergy  a  series  of  hateful  metropolitan 
canons ;  and,  by  a  series  of  measures  similar  in  spirit  to 
those  which  had  subdued  the  parliament,  he  confounded 
and  subdued  the  restless  parsons.^  In  an  early  despatch, 
he  had  to  boast  of  only  one  dissentient  voice  from  a  new 
and  most  astounding  "  protestant  uniformity"  ! 

The  Irish  common  lawyers  now  received  some  further 
proofs  of  his  care,  with  intelligible  hints  of  his  prospective 
schemes.  He  presented  them  with  the  majority  of  the 
English  statutes  that  had  been  passed  since  the  time  of 
Poynings,  but  exacted  from  them  certain  conditions,  at 
the  same  time,  which  soon  enabled  him  to  describe  to 
the    king   in   the    following   terms    his    Irish    ministers 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  354. 
^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  342 — 344. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  175 

of  justice  : — '*  Not  declined  to  serve  other  men's  un- 
warrantable purposes  by  any  importunity  or  application  ; 
never  in  so  much  power  and  estimation  in  the  state  and 
with  the  subject,  as  now,  and  yet  contained  in  that  due 
subordination  to  the  crown  as  is  fit ;  ministring  wholly  to 
uphold  the  sovereignty;  carrying  a  direct  aspect  upon 
the  prerogatives  of  his  majesty,  without  squinting  aside 
upon  the  vulgar  and  vain  opinions  of  the  populace."  ^ 

The  army  next  engaged  his  attention.  He  supplied 
them  with  clothes,  with  arms,  with  ammunition ;  he 
redeemed  them  from  licentiousness  2,  and  strengthened 
them  in  numbers  and  in  discipline.  He  completed 
several  regiments  of  foot,  collected  together  some  most 
efficient  cavalry,  and,  in  a  very  short  time,  astonished 
the  court  in  England  by  returns  of  a  richly  appointed 
and  well  marshalled  force.  They  heard  with  still  greater 
astonishment  that  the  lord  deputy  himself  could  find 
time  to  visit  the  whole  army,  and  to  inspect  every 
individual  in  it !  And  he  further  declared  to  them,  that 
he  held  himself  ever  ready  to  mount  horse  at  a  moment's 
warning,  and  lead  a  troop  of  his  own,  raised  and  ac- 
coutred at  his  own  charge,  to  repress,  by  a  sudden 
movement,  any  popular  commotion.^     Vainly,  however, 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  18. 

^  "Whence  it  is  that  the  soldier  is  now  welcome  in  every  place, 
where  before  they  were  an  abomination  to  the  inhabitants ;  that  by 
this  means  the  army  in  true  account  may  be  said  to  be  of  double  the 
strength  it  had  been  apprehended," — Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  17. 

^  "For  myself,  I  had  a  dead  stock  in  horses,  furniture,  and  arms 
for  my  troop,  that  stood  me  in  6cxx)/.,  and  all  in  readiness  upon  an. 
hour's  warning  to  march.  Nor  did  I  this  out  of  vanity,  but  really 
in  regard  I  did  conceive  it  became  me  not  to  represent  so  great  a 
majesty  meanly  in  the  sight  of  the  people ;  that  it  was  of  mighty 
reputation  to  the  service  of  the  crown,  when  they  saw  me  in  such  a 
posture,  as  that  I  was  upon  an  hour's  warning  able  to  put  myself  on 
horseback,  and  to  deliver,  in  spight  of  all  opposition,  a  letter  in  any 
part  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  lastly,  in  regard  men  should  see  I  zuould 


176  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

he  strove  to  communicate  energy  enough  to  Charles  tQ 
procure  his  seconding  some  wider  schemes  projected  by 
him  in  reference  to  the  army.  The  army  was  the  key- 
stone of  that  vast  building  which  the  imagination  of 
Wentworth  had  already  raised  in  the  distance.  The 
army  was  to  hang  in  potent  control  over  every  thing,  to 
be  "  the  great  peace-maker  betwixt  the  British  and  the 
natives,  betwixt  the  protestant  and  the  papist,  and  the 
chief  securer,  under  God  and  his  majesty,  of  the  future 
and  past  plantations."  But  Wentworth  was  foiled,  by 
the  indolent  envy  of  his  English  coadjutors,  from  realising 
the  great  desire  he  held,  "  that  his  majesty  breed  up  and 
have  a  seminary  of  soldiers  in  some  part  or  other  of  his 
dominions."  ^ 

Indolent  envy  and  active  opposition  notwithstanding, 
— the  general  reputation  of  the  lord  deputy  of  Ireland 
increased  daily.  "  Mr.  secretary  Cooke,"  wrote  lord 
Cottington  to  him,  ''  is  so  diligent  and  careful  to  give 
your  lordship  an  account  of  all  your  dispatches  and 
answers  to  them,  as  there  is  nothing  for  me  to  say,  but 
that  for  ought  I  can  discern  every  body  else  is  so  too. 
My  lord  marshal  is  your  own,  my  lord  of  Canterbury 
your  chaplain,  secretary  Windebank  your  man,  the  king 
your  favourite,  and  I  your  good  lord.  In  earnest  you 
have  a  mighty  stock  of  opinion  amongst  us,  which  must 
of  necessity  make  you  damnable  proud,  if  you  take  not 
heed."  ^  The  lord  treasurer  Weston  alone,  the  old  pro- 
pitiator of  the  king's  regards  to  the  quondam  supporter 
of  the  petition  of  rights,  but  now  bitterly  jealous  of 
Wentworth's   friendship   with   Laud,    scarcely   cared   to 

not  exact  so  much  duty  from  any  private  captain,  as  I  did  myself 
upon  myself,  being  their  general.'''' — S.'rafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  i8. 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  198.  ^  i\y\^^  yoi.  i.  p,  430. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  177 

conceal  his  animosity.^  A  fatal  attack  of  illness,  how- 
ever, at  this  time  removed  Weston ;  and  the  only  alloy 
which  served  to  dash  the  secret  satisfaction  with  which 
the  news  of  this  event  was  received  by  Wentworth,  was 
the  existence  of  very  decided  rumours  that  the  vacant 
staff  would  be  offered  to  himself.^ 

I  have  already  touched  on  the  many  objections  which 
Wentworth  entertained  to  an  office  of  this  sort ;  and  he 
now  sought  by  every  means,  and  with  characteristic 
energy,  to  prevent  its  being  offered  to  him  at  all.  To 
his  friends  who  wrote  to  him  urging  its  acceptance,  he 
peremptorily  answered ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  by  the 
same  messenger,  forwarded  various  requests  to  several 
of  them,  that  they  would  take  on  themselves  to  intimate 
in  every  quarter,  as  plainly  as  possible,  their  knowledge 
of  his  objection  to  it.  In  further  promotion  of  this 
object,  he  practised  a  very  singular  piece  of  deception. 
His  retained  gossip,  Mr.  Garrard — who  continued  faith- 
fully and  regularly,  in  the  absence  of  a  newspaper,  to 
julfil  all  the  duties  of  one,  and  to  retail  to  the  deputy  all 

1  "The  truth  is,  I  conceive  my  lord  treasurer  sometime  before 
his  death  wished  me  no  good,  being  grown  extreme  jealous  of  my 
often  writing  to  my  lord  of  Canterbury  ;  and  myself  out  of  a  sturdi- 
ness  of  nature  not  so  gently  passing  by  his  unkind  usage,  as  a  man 
of  a  softer  and  wiser  temper  might  have  done  ; — for,  I  confess,  I  did 
stomach  it  very  much  to  be  so  meanly  suspected  (being  as  innocent 
and  clear  of  crime  towards  him  as  the  day),  considering  that  I  had 
upon  my  coming  from  court  given  him  as  strong  a  testimony  of  my 
faith  and  boldness  in  his  affairs,  nay,  indeed,  a  stronger,  than  any 
other  friend  he  had,  durst,  or  at  least  would,  do  for  him.  So  as 
finding  myself  thus  disappointed  of  the  confidence  I  had  in  his  pro- 
fessions at  our  parting,  1  grew  so  impatient,  as  to  profess  even  to 
himself,  1  would  borrow  a  being  from  no  man  living  but  my  master, 
and  there  I  would  fasten  myself  as  surely  as  I  could.  So  as  by  his 
death  it  is  not  altogether  improbable,  that  I  am  delivered  of  the 
heaviest  adversary  1  ever  had." — Wentworth  to  the  Earl  of  New- 
castle, Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  41 1.  See  also  a  letter  of  Laud's, 
voK  i.  p.  329. 

-  See  Garrard's  letter,  in  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  388,  389. 

N 


178  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

the  occurrences  and  scandal  of  the  court  and  the  city — 
had  given  him  from  time  to  time  most  minute  accounts 
of  the  illness  of  Weston  through  its  progressive  stages, 
and  finally  had  reported  his  death. ^  It  was  Wentworth's 
policy,  however,  to  convey  to  the  court,  that,  so  indif- 
ferent was  he  in  respect  of  Weston's  office,  he  had  never 
troubled  himself  to  inquire  the  probable  issue  of  his 
illness,  and,  indeed,  had  never  heard  of  it.  As  soon, 
therefore,  as  an  official  intimation  of  the  occurrence  was 
sent  to  him  from  Cottington,  we  find  him  answering 
thus  ! — "  My  very  good  lord,  I  was  never  more  surprised 
in  my  life  than  upon  the  reading  of  your  last  letter;  not 
having  had  any  notice  of  my  lord  treasurer's  least  indis- 
position before.  And  how  it  happens  I  know  not,  but  I 
am  sure,  I  was  never  well  since  almost,  and  that  Monday 
night  last  I  swooned  twice  before  they  could  get  off  my 
cloathes."^ — And  again,  assuring  lord  Newcastle  : — "Yet 
I  protest,  I  ever  wished  well  to  his  person,  and  am 
heartily  sorry  for  his  death,  which  was  signified  unto  me 
by  my  lord  Cottington,  before  I  heard  any  thing  of  his 
sickness^  and  took  me  in  a  manner  by  surprise."  ^ 

These  precautions  were  successful.  Left  settled  in  his 
government  of  Ireland,  he  next  sought,  by  every  pos- 
.sible  resource,  to  establish  a  permanent  revenue.     In 

1  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  243.  374.  387.  &c. 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  393. 

^  Ibid.  p.  411.  Cottington  himself  was  a  candidate  for  the  office, 
and  never  forgave  Laud  his  disappointment,  which  the  profits  of  the 
mastership  of  the  records  were  by  no  means  sufficient  to  heal  over. 
The  treasury  was  administered  by  commission  for  twelve  months, 
when  it  was  placed  by  Laud,  to  the  astonishment  of  all  who  were 
still  unacquainted  with  the  archbishop's  designs  for  the  state 
advancement  of  the  church,  in  the  hands  of  Juxon,  bishop  of 
London.  Laud,  recording  the  appointment  in  his  Diary  (March, 
1636),  observes  that  "No  churchman  had  it  since  Henry  VIL's 
time  ;  "  and  adds,  "  Now  if  the  church  will  not  hold  themselves  up 
under  God,  I  can  do  no  more." 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  179 

this  pursuit  he  exhausted  his  industry,  his  energy,  his 
genius.  Under  his  superintendence,  the  produce  of  the 
customs  rose,  within  four  years,  from  12,000/.  a  year  to 
40,000/.,  and  continued  to  advance  rapidly.  Nor  were 
the  means  by  which  it  was  accomphshed  other  than  just 
and  honourable.  He  improved  the  method  of  collection, 
protected  the  coasts,  swept  the  channel  and  the  harbours 
of  pirates,  and,  in  fine, — lifted  the  commerce  and  the 
shipping  of  Ireland  into  a  rich  prosperity,  by  freeing  it 
from  danger.  *'  My  humble  advice,"  observes  Went- 
worth,  "for  the  increase  of  trade  was,  that  his  majesty 
should  not  suffer  any  act  of  hostility  to  be  offered  to  any 
merchants  or  their  goods  within  the  channel,  which  was 
to  be  preserved  and  privileged,  as  the  greatest  of  his 
majesty's  ports,  in  the  same  nature  and  property  as  the 
Venetian  state  do  their  Gulf,  and  the  king  of  Denmark 
his  Sound : — and  therefore  I  humbly  besought  his 
majesty  and  their  lordships,  that  it  might  accordingly  be 
remembred  and  provided  for,  in  all  future  treaties  with 
foreign  princes."  In  completion  of  this  scheme,  the  lord 
deputy  struggled  hard  to  rescue  the  trade  of  Ireland  from 
several  absurd  restrictions  and  monopoHes ;  and  in  this, 
having  partially  succeeded,  his  government  left  a  claim 
for  gratitude  which  is  remaining  still. ^ 

In  resorting  to  just  measures  occasionally,  however, 
when  they  were  not  found  to  interfere  with  his  ulterior 
schemes,  Wentworth  bad  taught  himself  no  lesson  of 
refraining  from  what  was  unjust.  Money  was  to  be  had 
somehow — if  justly,  well — if  not,  it  was  to  be  had  no 

1  For  the  various  measures,  and  the  elaborate  reasoning  with 
which  the  lord  deputy  supported  them,  see  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i. 
pp.  67.  90.  106.  202.  308.  393.  307,  400.  521.  192.  351.  366.  386. 
405.  174.  340.  299.  &c.  &c.  ;  and  vol.  ii.  pp.  18.  198.  137.  20.  89. 
135.  42.  151.  &c.  &c. 


l8o  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

less.  He  now,  for  instance,  imposed  a  licence  upon  the 
retail  of  tobacco,  and  himself  farmed  the  privilege  for 
an  annual  rent  of  7000/.,  and,  finally,  of  12,000/.  A 
tax  was  laid  also  on  brewing,  by  way  of  feeler  for  the 
introduction  of  the  excise, — an  object  of  mortal  hatred 
with  the  Irish. 

The  statutes  of  wills  and  uses  were  introduced,  no 
less  beneficial  to  the  crown,  and  happily  more  just  to 
the  subject.  They  strengthened  the  tenure  of  property, 
fixed  a  remedy  against  fraudulent  conveyances,  restored 
widows  to  their  jointures,  and  heirs  to  their  inheritances. 
What  was  vastly  more  important  to  Wentworth,  they 
increased  the  king's  fines  in  the  court  of  wards,  by 
10,000/.  a  year!  A  mint,  also,  was  erected  in  Ireland, 
in  spite  of  desperate  opposition  from  the  officers  of  the 
English  mint,  with  the  view  of  remedying  the  excessive 
scarcity  of  coin ;  workmen  were  introduced  from  Eng- 
land, to  sink  in  various  parts  of  the  island  for  saltpetre, 
which  Wentworth  fancied  might  be  obtained  to  commer- 
cial purposes ;  and  he  made  several  successful  efforts  to 
work  the  silver  mines  and  marble  quarries.^ 

Greater  projects,  too,  than  these,  occupied  the  mind 


^  I  have  already  supplied  various  authorities  for  these  measures, 
to  which  I  must  refer  the  reader.  With  one  of  his  packets  to  the 
king,  Wentworth  forwarded  "  an  ingot  of  silver,  of  300  ounces, 
being  the  first  that  ever  was  got  in  Ireland  ;"  accompanying  it  with 
a  proud  expression  of  his  hope,  that  "this  kingdom  now  at  length, 
in  these  latter  ages,  may  not  only  fill  up  the  greatness  and  dominion, 
but  even  the  coffers  and  exchequer,  of  the  crown  of  England.  Sure 
I  am,  it  becomes  not  this  little  one  that  her  breasts  should  ever  be 
dry,  nor  ought  she  with  a  sparing  hand  to  communicate  of  her 
strength  and  wealth  there,  considering  with  what  mass  of  treasure 
and  streams  of  blood  she  hath  been  redeemed  and  preserved  by  that 
her  elder  and  more  excellent  sister.  May  your  majesty's  days  be  as 
lasting  and  glorious  as  the  best  and  purest  of  metals,  and  God 
Almighty  prosper  and  accomplish  all  your  princely  thoughts  and 
counsels,  be  they  old  or  new." — Strafford  Papers^  vol.  i.  p.  174. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  i8i 

of  the  lord  deputy.  Before  he  set  foot  in  Ireland  ^,  he 
had  conceived  the  noble  scheme  of  opening  a  victualling 
trade  between  Ireland  and  Spain.  The  distrust  with 
which  the  patriotic  party  regarded  Spain  may  have  in- 
fluenced him  first,  as  if  in  defiance,  to  rise  superior  to 
such  "vain  apprehensions;" — but  be  that  as  it  might, 
his  despatches  vindicate  his  plan.  They  show  how 
admirably  the  commodities  and  the  wants  of  the  respec- 
tive kingdoms  correspond,  and  how  closely  reciprocal 
are  their  interests.  They  even  supply  a  statement,  drawn 
up  with  enormous  pains  from  the  information  of  various 
commercial  agents,  of  the  commodities  which  each  port 
in  Spain  could  either  receive  from  Ireland,  or  give  back 
in  return.  In  one  matter  especially  Wentworth  saw  the 
source  of  enormous  advantage, — since  the  great  annual 
fleets  to  the  colonies,  which  were  so  often  detained  in 
the  Spanish  harbours  for  want  of  provisions,  could  clearly 
be  supplied  far  more  conveniently  and  cheaply  from 
Ireland  than  from  any  other  country  in  Europe.  Con- 
temporaneously with  this  measure,  the  lord  deputy  had 
resolved  to  attempt  two  other  projects.  "And  surely, 
sir,"  he  wrote  to  the  king,  "if  we  be  able  to  furnish,  and 
go  through  with  this  undertaking, — increase  the  growth 
and  set  up  the  manufactory  of  hemp  and  flax  in  that 
your  kingdom, — I  will  hope  to  leave  your  subjects  there 
in  much  happier  condition  than  I  found  them,  without 
the  least  prejudice  to  your  subjects  here.  For  this  is  a 
ground  I  take  with  me,  that  to  serve  your  majesty  com- 
pleatly  well  in  Ireland^  we  must  not  only  endeavour  to 
enrich  them,  but  make  sure  still  to  hold  them  dependant 

1  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  93,  94.  That  remarkable 
despatch  was  written  while  waiting  at  Westminster  for  the  ship  that 
was  to  Qonvoy  him  to  Dublin. 


1 82  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

upon  the  crown,  and  not  able  to  subsist  without  us.  Which 
will  be  effected,  by  wholly  laying  aside  the  manufacture 
of  wools  into  cloth  or  stuff  there,  and  by  furnishing  them 
from  this  kingdom ;  and  then  making  your  majesty  sole 
merchant  of  all  salts  on  that  side : — for  thus  shall  they 
not  only  have  their  cloathing,  the  improvement  of  all 
their  native  commodities,  (which  are  principally  preserved 
by  salt),  and  their  victual  itself  from  hence  (strong  ties 
and  enforcements  upon  their  allegiance  and  obedience  to 
your  majesty), — but  a  means  found,  I  trust,  much  to 
advance  your  majesty's  revenue  upon  salt,  and  to 
improve  your  customs.  The  wools  there  grown,  and  the 
cloths  there  worn,  thus  paying  double  duties  to  your 
crown  in  both  kingdoms;  and  the  salt  outward  here, 
both  inward  and  outward  there."  ^  In  such  principles  as 
these,  as  through  the  majority  of  Wentworth's  despotic 
schemes,  some  good  wrestled  with  the  evil.  The  linen 
manufacture,  for  instance,  springing  out  of  this  monstrous 
intention,  turned  out  to  be  a  blessing  to  the  island. 
Having  learnt,  on  his  arrival  in  the  country,  that  no 
article  for  export  was  manufactured  there,  except  a  small 
quantity  of  coarse  woollen  yarn,  and  unwiUing,  by 
encouraging  this  branch,  to  interfere  with  the  staple  of 
England,  he  instantly  resolved,  by  introducing  the  general 
cultivation  of  flax,  to  induce  the  manufacture  of  linen. 
At  his  own  charge  and  adventure  he  imported  and  sowed 
a  quantity  of  superior  flax  seed : — the  next  year,  his  first 
crop  having  outgone  his  expectation,  he  expended  looo/. 
on  the  same  venture,  erected  a  vast  number  of  looms, 
procured  workmen  from  France  and  Flanders,  and  at 
last  sent  forth  a  ship  to  Spain,  at  his  own  risk  2,  with  the 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  93,  94. 

2  See  his  characteristic  letter  to  the  duke  of  Medina,  Strafford 
Papers,  vol.  ii.  pp.  109,  no. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  183 

first  investment  of  linen  that  had  ever  been  exported 
from  Ireland.  Sanguine  of  hopes  so  well  laid,  Went- 
wordi  then  hazarded  a  prediction  which  has  since  been 
amply  realised !  "  Very  ambitious  am  I,"  writes  he  to 
sir  William  Boswell,  "  to  set  up  a  trade  of  linen-clothing 
in  these  parts,  which,  if  God  bless,  so  as  it  be  effected, 
will,  I  dare  say,  be  the  greatest  enriching  to  this  kingdom 
that  ever  befel  it."  ^  The  other  project  he  had  set  up 
along  with  this,  happily  fell  to  the  ground  for  want  of 
encouragement.  In  proposing  to  monopolise  the  sale  of 
salt,  without  which  the  Irish  could  neither  carry  on  their 
victualling  trade,  nor  cure  their  ordinary  provisions,  and 
which  was  at  that  time  either  manufactured  by  patentees 
or  imported  from  abroad,  lord  Wentworth  reckoned  on  a 
considerable  increase  of  revenue,  and  the  reduction  of 
the  Irish  to  a  state  of  complete  dependence.  The  in- 
ternal manufacture  abolished, — it  would  be  next  to 
impossible  to  smuggle  a  commodity  so  bulky  and  so 
perishable  by  sea,  and  yet,  he  urged,  **  again  of  so 
absolute  necessity,  as  it  cannot  possibly  stay  upon  his 
majesty's  hand,  but  must  be  had  whether  they  will  or  no, 
and  may  at  all  times  be  raised  in  price  so  far  forth  as  his 
majesty  shall  judge  to  stand  with  reason  and  honour. 
Witness  the  Gabelles  of  salt  in  France."  ^  This  once 
accomplished,  Wentworth  felt  he  would  have  in  his  own 
hands  the  disposal  of  the  food  and  the  clothing  of  the 
Irish,  and  he  pressed  it  with  all  his  vehemence.  "  Hold- 
ing them,"  exclaimed  he,  "  from  the  manufacture  of  wool 
(which,  unless  otherwise  directed,  I  shall  by  all  means 
discourage),  and  then  inforcing  them  to  fetch  their 
cloathing  from  thence,  and  to  take  their  salt  from  the 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  473. 
2  Ibid.  vol.  i.  pp.   192,  193.  ;  and  see  pp.  182.  333.  346. 


1 84  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

king  (being  that  which  preserves  and  gives  value  to  all 
their  native  staple  commodities),  how  can  they  depart 
from  us,  without  nakedness  and  beggary?  Which  in 
itself  is  so  weighty  a  consideration  as  a  small  profit 
should  not  bear  it  down  !"  The  small  profit,  however, 
in  consequence  of  the  jealousies  of  Weston,  did  bear 
it  down,  and  the  lord  deputy  was  obliged  at  last  to 
surrender  it. 

The  embarrassments  of  the  Irish  treasury  had  now 
vanished,  no  anticipations  any  longer  weakened  it,  every 
charge  of  government  was  paid  to  a  day, — and,  in  the 
fifth  year  of  his  power,  lord  Wentworth  announced  to 
the  king  that  the  annual  revenue  would  exceed  the 
expenditure  by  60,000/. 

This,  then,  was  being  "  crowned  with  the  completest 
success  !  "  For,  according  to  such  political  reasoners  as 
M.  de  Lally  Tolendal,  the  prosperity  of  the  exchequer  is 
the  true  test  of  the  well-being  of  the  state,  and  as  long 
as  a  wretched  people  can  be  flattered  or  terrified  into 
"  coining  their  hearts  "  in  sums,  the  king  is  ably  served, 
and  the  minister  is  borne  out  in  his  exactions.  Yet 
Wentworth  deserves  better  advocates  !  and  it  is  perhaps 
due  to  his  fame  as  a  statesman,  to  keep  in  mind  that  we 
do  not  view  his  system  in  a  perfect  state,  since  the 
ground,  as  it  were,  had  only  been  cleared  for  the  building, 
when  death  struck  down  the  builder. 

Yorkshire,  meanwhile,  and  Wentworth  Woodhouse, 
had  not  been  forgotten  by  the  lord  deputy  !  If  he  had 
been  living  simply  as  a  private  gentleman  in  Ireland, 
instead  of  being  the  immediate  manager  and  director  of 
schemes  which  would  have  overwhelmed  the  strength  of 
a  dozen  ordinary  men, — he  could  not  have  attended  with 
greater  minuteness   and   apparent   ease   to   his  private 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  185 

affairs  in  England.  I  cannot  resist  extracting  here  some 
passages  from  an  extraordinary  letter  to  his  early  tutor, 
Mr.  Greenwood,  which  occasion  has  already  been  taken 
to  refer  to.  It  is  one  of  the  most  singular  proofs  that 
could  be  found  anywhere,  of  the  compatibility  of  a  com- 
prehensive genius  with  a  vigilant  attention  to  the  most 
minute  details.  From  his  viceroyalty  the  lord  Went- 
worth  can  signify  his  desire  "  that  my  tenants  use  their 
grounds  and  houses,  as  honest  men  and  good  husbands 
ought  to  do,  according  to  their  several  leases ;  that  my 
woods  be  preserved,  and  at  due  seasons  felled  and  sold 
to  the  best  profit,  spring-woods  I  mean ;  that  the  hedges 
and  fences  be  preserved;  that  the  ponds,  pheasants, 
partridges,  and  parks  be  preserved,  and  as  much  profit 
made  of  the  herbage  of  Tankersly  park  as  may  be  with- 
out hurt  to  the  deer;  that  fires  be  kept  in  the  houses 
at  Woodhouse  and  Tankersly,  and  that  the  housekeepers 
preserve  the  rooms  sweet,  and  the  stuff  without  spoil, 
and  principally  that  the  houses  be  kept  dry  from  taking 
of  rain  ; " — that  "  the  keeper  of  Tankersly  must  have 
the  more  immediate  care  of  the  woods  belonging  to 
Tankersly,  especially  those  within  the  park,  and  to  see 
that  the  pond-heads  there  be  kept  up,  and  the  water  to 
have  a  large  and  open  passage  to  run  away  in  the  time 
of  flood,  and  the  grates  so  cleansed  and  firm  as  they  break 
not,  nor  yet  choak  up,  in  which  cases  all  the  fish  will  be 
sure  to  go  away  with  the  flood." — And  again,  that  "none 
of  my  demains  be  plowed  in  any  case.  I  understand  in 
this  Richard  Marris  hath  not  followed  my  direction, 
which  indeed,  now  and  then,  if  a  man  would  never  so 
fain,  he  would  have  done.  But  if  upon  advice  taken 
with  you  and  Robin  Rockley,  you  find  at  any  time  good 
for  the  grounds  they  were  broken  up,  then  would  I  have 


1 86  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

them  plowed  for  my  own  use  {for  I  know  right  well  the 
profit  of  those  new  rift  grounds),  taking  still  care  that  they 
be  well  limed  and  manured,  and  so  left  as  fat  and  full  in 
heart  as  might  be,  to  which  purpose  I  would  have  no 
cost  spared, /<7r  I  would  have  the  grounds  about  my  houses 
kept  aloft,  so  as  there  may  be  beauty  and  pleasure  communi- 
cated evenfro?n  them  to  the  houses  themselves.^''  With  these 
desires  are  conveyed  a  vast  host  of  minor  directions 
respecting  the  servants  he  would  have  Greenwood  reward, 
promote,  confide  in,  or  distrust.  Nor  does  he  forget  to 
— "  beseech  you  to  cause  my  new  study  there  which 
looks  into  the  hall,  to  be  glazed,  strong  doors  and  locks 
to  be  set  upon  it ;  and  such  boxes  being  made  as  are  at 
Woodhouse,  which  Richard  Forster  will,  upon  your 
direction,  give  notice  for,  the  evidence  may  be  put  into 
those  boxes,  and  set  in  that  study,  where  they  will  be 
more  safe  and  handsomely  kept  than  where  they  are  now. 
If  you  could  cause  like  locks  to  be  made  for  that  study, 
as  are  at  Woodhouse,  so  that  one  key  might  open  the 
locks  in  both  places,  it  were  much  the  better,  and 
advising  a  Httle  with  Richard  Forster,  he  might  so  order 
the  matter  as  to  have  them  so ;" — and  to  beg  that  "the 
red  damask  bed  with  stools,  canopies,  chairs,  &c.  belong- 
ing thereunto,  be  carefully  looked  unto."  We  learn  also, 
from  this  omniscient  despatch,  that  the  death  of  his 
steward,  Richard  Harris, — "troubles  me  not  so  much, 
albeit  in  truth  I  loved  him  very  well,  as  the  sadness  and 
indeed  fearfulness  of  the  misfortune,  thorough  which  he 
was  lost,  most  grievous,  God  knows,  for  him,  and  scan- 
dalous to  all  that  have  relation  to  him,  amongst  the  rest, 
I  am  sure  to  have  my  share.  Nor  do  I  think  that  he  was 
drowned  as  you  write,  for  then  how  should  one  pocket  be 
dry  ?    But  rather  that,  heavy  with  drink,  he  dropped fro77i 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  187 

his  horse  near  the  place  where  his  cloak  lay,  and,  so  it  may 
be,  amazed  with  the  fall,  was  dragged  by  the  horse,  and 
the  girths  loosing,  left  in  that  wet  place,  where  he  was 
fou7id  dead,  and  where,  doubtless  for  want  of  company, 
and  in  a  cold  night  and  lodging,  stormed  to  death.  But 
enough  of  so  woful  a  subject,  which  1  wish  might  never 
be  mentioned  or  remembred  again,  further  than  to 
consider  in  it  the  just  judgments  of  God,  and  to  deter  us 
from  this  swinish  vice,  and  all  other  which  may  draw 
down  upon  ourselves  like  punishments."  Subjoining 
this,  the  course  to  be  pursued  with  respect  to  the  brother 
and  heir  of  the  deceased  is  laid  down  at  great  length, 
and  in  all  its  possible  bearings,  coupled  with  the  follow- 
ing characteristic  notice  : — "  I  pray  you  in  any  case,  if  it 
may  be,  let  him  be  drawn  to  this  by  fair  and  still  means  ; 
but  if  that  work  not  with  him,  then  would  I  have  you  let 
him  know,  that,  until  the  account  be  declared  betwixt 
me  and  his  brother,  which  I  am  most  wiUing  and  desirous 
may  be  before  the  next  spring  fairly  examined  by  auditors 
indifferently  chosen  betwixt  us,  /  will  hold  the  possession 
both  of  la7ids  and  goods  ;  that  I  will  assign  my  debt  to  the 
king,  and  so  extend  and  keep  in  extent  the  whole  estate,  till 
I  be  honestly  and  truly  satisfied ;  as  also  that  I  will  per- 
form that  last  office  in  accomplishment  of  that  which  I 
know  was  his  brother's  intention,  to  see  all  his  other 
creditors  justly  paid  before  he  meddle  with  the  estate, — 
but  that  then  at  after,  I  will  not  be  his  loss,  by  the  help 
of  God,  one  farthing.  And  I  pray  you,  if  the  first  milder 
way  take  not  (which  if  there  be  either  honesty  or  con- 
science in  the  man  methinks  it  should),  then  to  proceed 
roundly  the  other  way,  holding  all  you  have,  putting  the 
bonds  of  Darcy  Wentworth  and  Pieter  Man  in  suit  upon 
the  land,  and  keeping  all  in  the  state  you  have  already 


1 88  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

SO  well  settled  them,  till  my  coming  over."  The  reverend 
gentleman  had  previously  been  given  to  understand  that, 
— "as  for  all  my  rents,  the  course  I  desire  to  be  held,  is 
thus.  A  month  after  every  rent  day,  I  would  have  a 
time  appointed  when  yourself  and  Robert  Rockley  may 
meet,  and  all  the  bailiffs  to  be  appointed  to  attend  you, 
— there  receive  their  accounts,  giving  them  strict  charge 
to  gather  what  shall  be  behind,  and  to  bring  the  re- 
mainder and  finish  their  account  at  Thornhill  within  a 
month  after.  And  I  beseech  you  give  them  no  sparing, 
for  I  have  suffered  very  much  by  it ;  however,  I  never 
could  perceive  my  tenants  were  a  groat  the  better : — ■ 
besides,  when  they  find  they  shall  be  distrained  upon, 
they  will  observe  their  day  carefully,  so  as  within  a  rent 
day  or  two,  this  course  strictly  observed,  the  rents  will 
come  in  without  any  stop."  The  whole  production  is, 
indeed,  impressed  with  the  peculiarities  of  Wentworth's 
subde  and  energetic  genius ;  nor  was  there  reason  for 
Mr.  Greenwood  to  doubt,  as  he  at  the  close  assured,  that 
the  writer  "upon  a  good  occasion  would  not  deny  his 
life  to  him." 

So  also,  burthened  with  his  mighty  schemes,  the  lord 
deputy  found  time  for  every  office  of  private  service,  of 
friendship,  and  of  scholarlike  amusement.  He  made  his 
newsman,  Mr.  Garrard,  forward  him  copies  of  Dr.  Donne's 
poetry  \  which  he  was  amazingly  fond  of;  gathered 
antiquities  for  the  king  2;  vanquished  Inigo  Jones  in  a 
discussion  on  architecture^;  reared  a  young  greyhound 
among  his  own  children  for  the  little  prince  of  York  * ; 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  338.  &c.         "^  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  82. 

»  Ibid.  p.  83. 

*  The  countess  of  Dorset  had  preferred  the  request,  to  which 
Wentworth  instantly  answered — **  I  did,  with  all  gladness,  receive 
from   your   ladyship,  by  this  bearer,  the   first   commands   it   ever 


BROWNING'S  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD.  189 

corresponded  with  old  friends  in  Yorkshire^;  dis- 
cussed with  Vandyke  on  various  marbles ;  hunted, 
hawked  2,  and  played  at  the  games  of  primero  and  mayo. 
"He  played  excellently  well,"  says  Radcliffe;  ''and  for 
company  sake,  in  Christmas,  and  after  supper,  he  would 
])lay  sometimes ;  yet  he  never  was  much  taken  with  it, 
nor  used  it  excessively,  but  as  a  recreation  should  be 
used.  His  chief  recreation  was  after  supper,  when,  if  he 
had  company,  which  were  suitable  unto  him,  that  is, 
honest  chearful  men,  he  would  retire  into  an  inner  room, 
and  set  two  or  three  hours,  taking  tobacco  and  telling  stories 
with  great  pleasantness  and  freedom :  and  this  he  used 
constantly,  with  all  familiarity  in  private,  laying  then  aside 
all  state  and  that  due  respect  which  in  publick  he  would 
expect." 

Never  for  a  single  instant,  however,  were  the  public 
affairs  suffered  to  wait  his  leisure.  They  threatened  now 
to  demand  more  than  ordinary  care,  for  the  king  had 
resolutely  thwarted  the  deputy  in  his  desire  to  continue 
the  parliament.  "My  reasons,"  he  wrote,  "are  grounded 
upon  my  experience  of  them  here.  They  are  of  the 
nature  of  cats,  they  ever  grow  curst  with  age,  so  that  if 
ye  will  have  good  of  them,  put  them  off  handsomely 

pleased  our  young  master  to  honour  me  withal ;  and  before  Christ- 
mas I  will  not  fail  to  furnish  his  highness  with  the  finest  greyhound 
this  kingdom  affords  ;  till  then  I  shall  humbly  crave  his  highness's 
pardon  ;  for,  to  send  any  before  I  may  have  convenient  time,  under 
my  own  eye,  to  be  stire  he  is  of  a  safe  and  gentle  disposition,  and  that 
I  may  try  him  here  first,  ho%v  he  shall  behave  himself  a?}io7tgst  my  own 
children,  were  the  greatest  indiscretion  and  boldness  in  me  possible. 
And  albeit,  I  assure  myself  your  ladyship's  care,  and  other  his 
highness's  attendants,  would  be  such,  as  the  dog  should  do  no 
harm,  yet  that  were  no  thanks  to  me." — Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p. 

303- 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  1 16. 

^  "  In  his  later  days,"  Radcliffe  observes,  "he  got  little  time  to 
see  his  hawks  fly,  though  he  always  kept  good  ones." 


190  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

when  they  come  to  any  age,  for  young  ones  are  ever 
most  tractable.  .  .  .  Now  that  we  are  well,  let  us  con- 
tent ourselves  therewith."  ^  Charles,  at  the  same  time, 
had  urged  upon  his  minister  the  preferable  course  of 
following  out  their  plans  (which  were  far  more  favoured 
with  himself  than  even  a  submissive  Irish  parliament),  of 
increasing  the  estates  of  the  crown  by  a  search  after 
defective  titles.  Wentworth,  upon  this,  set  resolutely  to 
work.  He  examined  various  old  records,  and  discovered 
that  the  whole  province  of  Connaught,  on  the  forfeiture 
of  its  Irish  chieftain,  had  lapsed,  many  years  ago,  to  the 
crown.  It  had,  indeed,  even  since  that  time,  again  been 
granted  away,  but  the  court  lawyers  now  either  found 
flaws  in  the  conveyances  or  made  them.  It  will  be 
recollected  that  a  recognition  of  the  validity  of  such  titles 
formed  one  of  the  obnoxious  "graces"  which  Wentworth 
had  laid  to  sleep  so  soundly. 

Pledging  himself  at  once  to  the  king,  therefore,  that 
he  would  reduce  Connaught  to  the  absolute  possession  of 
the  crown, — the  lord  deputy  proceeded  into  the  county 
of  Roscommon,  summoned  a  jury  composed  of  "  persons 
of  such  means  as  might  answer  the  king  a  round  fine  in 
the  Castle-chamber,  in  case  they  should  prevaricate,  and 
who,  in  all  seeming,  even  out  of  that  reason,  would  be 
more  fearful  to  tread  shamefully  and  impudently  aside 
from  the  truth,  than  such  as  had  less,  or  nothing,  to 
lose,"  2 — told  them  that  his  present  appeal  to  them  was 
a  mere  act  of  courtesy,  and,  in  return  for  a  series  of 
deep  and  significant  threats,  received  a  ready  obedience. 
The  same  scenes,  with  the  same  results,  were  acted  in 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i,  p.  365.  Wentworth's  previous  entreaties 
for  a  prorogation  will  be  found  at  p.  353. 

2  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  442.  ;  a  despatch  in  which  the  entire 
proceedings  are  characteristically  given. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


191 


Mayo   and    Sligo,    and    lord   Wentworth   went    on    to 
Gal  way. 

Here  he  was  prepared  for  opposition.  The  people, 
chiefly  Roman  catholics,  were  supported  by  a  formidable 
body  of  priests,  and  had  the  strenuous  countenance  and 
assistance  of  their  hereditary  lord,  the  earl  of  St.  Albans 
and  Clanricarde,  a  nobleman  of  esteem  at  the  English 
court.  The  spirit  of  Wentworth  rose  at  the  prospect, 
and  he  prepared  the  court,  in  a  memorable  despatch,  for 
the  measures  they  were  to  expect  from  him  : — "  If  it  be 
followed  with  just  severity,"  he  wrote,  "this  opposition 
will  prove  of  great  use  to  the  crown,  as  any  one  thing 
that  hath  happened,  since  this  plantation  fell  in  pro- 
position. It  shall  not  only,  with  a  considerable  addition 
of  revenue,  bring  security  to  this  county,  which  of  the 
whole  kingdom  most  requires  it,  but  make  all  the 
succeeding  plantations  pass  with  the  greatest  quietness 
that  can  be  desired.  Whereas  if  this  froward  humour  be 
negligently  or  loosely  handled,  it  will  not  only  blemish 
the  honour  and  comeliness  of  that  which  is  effected 
already,  but  cut  off  all  hope  for  the  future."  He  sum- 
moned a  jury  on  the  same  principle  as  in  the  preceding 
counties.  They  were  obstinate  in  their  refusal  to  obey 
him.  The  sheriff  who  had  selected  them  was  instantly 
fined  1000/. ;  the  jurors  themselves  were  cited  into  the 
Castle-chamber,  and  fined  4000/.  each ;  and  the  earl  of 
Clanricarde  ^  received  a  heavy  reprimand  from  the  court, 
and  was  made  to  suffer  severely.  Bitter  murmurs  were 
heard  in  Ireland,  and  men  spoke  out  more  strongly  in 
England.     But  the  deputy  knew  no  fear.     "This  comfort 

^  For  the  representations  made  by  Wentworth  against  this  noble- 
man, see  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  451.  479.  492.  ;  and  vol.  ii. 
pp.  31.  35.365-  381. 


192  BROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

I  have  to  support  me  against  the  malice  of  this  race  of 
sturdy  beggars,  that  howbeit  they  threaten  me  with  a 
Felton  or  a  Ravillac,  yet  my  master  is  pleased  graciously 
to  accept  of  my  endeavours,  and  to  say  publicly  at  council- 
board,  the  crown  of  England  was  never  so  well  served 
on  this  side,  as  since  my  coming  to  the  government."  ^ 

Exasperated,  nevertheless,  with  these  signs  of  opposi- 
tion, he  now  thought  to  silence  them  effectually  by  one 
terrible  warning.  His  knowledge  of  the  character  of  the 
vice-treasurer,  the  lord  Mountnorris,  has  been  already 
shown,  and  I  have  quoted  the  deeply  significant  in- 
timation which  opened  their  official  connection.  Mount- 
norris had  long  disregarded  this,  and  had,  indeed,  omitted 
no  opportunity  which  his  place  afibrded  him,  of  thwarting 
in  every  possible  way  the  schemes  of  Wentworth.  A 
trifling  circumstance  now  gave  the  latter  an  occasion  of 
punishment.  Severely  afflicted  with  the  gout, — for  so 
frightful  were  his  bodily  infirmities,  that  freedom  from 
one  complaint  seldom  failed  to  be  followed  by  thraldom 
to  another, — the  lord  deputy  sat  one  day  in  the  presence- 
chamber,  when  one  of  his  attendants — a  Mr.  Annesley, 
a  distant  relation  of  the  lord  Mountnorris — accidentally 
dropped  a  stool  upon  his  foot.  "  Enraged  with  the  pain 
whereof,"  says  Clarendon,  "  his  lordship  with  a  small  cane 
struck  Annesley.  This  being  merrily  spoken  of  at  dinner 
at  the  lord  chancellor's  table,  where  the  lord  Mountnorris 
was,  he  said,  'the  gentleman  had  a  brother  that  would 
not  have  taken  such  a  blow.' "  ^  These  words  were 
spoken  in  the  month  of  April.     Eaves-droppers  reported 

^  Strafiford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  412.  ;  and  see  p.  371. 

2  Clarendon,  vol.  i.  p.  174.  This  statement  is  borne  out  by 
Baillie's  letters.  Rushworth,  on  the  other  hand,  gives  it  as  Went- 
worth's  witnesses  afterwards  swore  to  it.  Collections,  vol.  iii.  p. 
187,  ;  and  see  Nalson's  Collections,  vol.  i.  p.  59. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  193 

them  to  Wentworth,  who  instantly  forwarded  a  messenger 
to  London  to  bring  back  a  king's  commission  for  the 
tfial  of  Mountnorris.  It  was  sent  at  his  request.  Not 
till  December,  however,  was  any  further  step  taken, 
though  the  interim  had  been  employed  in  giving  security 
to  the  lord  deputy's  purpose. 

In  December,  Mountnorris  received  a  summons  to 
attend  a  council  of  war  the  next  morning.  Ignorant  of 
the  cause  of  so  sudden  a  movement,  he  was  vainly  ask- 
ing his  brother  councillors  to  explain  it, — when  Went- 
worth entered,  produced  the  king's  commission,  charged 
lord  Mountnorris  with  an  attempt  to  stir  up  mutiny 
against  himself  as  general  of  the  army,  and  ordered  the 
charge  to  be  read.  It  ran  to  this  effect : — That  it  having 
been  mentioned  at  the  lord  chancellor's  table,  that 
Annesley  had  let  a  stool  fall  on  the  lord  deputy's  foot, 
Mountnorris  had  scornfully  and  contemptuously  said, 
*'  Perhaps  it  was  done  in  revenge  of  that  public  affront 
that  my  lord  deputy  did  me  formerly;  but  I  have  a 
brother  who  would  not  have  taken  such  a  revenge."  In 
vain  the  accused  fell  on  his  knees,  and  requested  time 
for  consultation ;  in  vain  he  demanded  even  a  copy  of 
the  charge,  or  permission  to  retain  counsel : — every  thing 
was  denied  to  him ;  the  lord  deputy  cited  two  articles 
of  war  which  rendered  him  amenable  to  imprisonment 
and  to  death;  demanded  from  the  councillors  the  im- 
mediate and  summary  judgment  of  a  court  martial  on 
both  the  articles ;  and  sternly  silenced  a  proposal  which 
they  ventured  to  submit,  of  separating  the  charges. 
Guilty  the  accused  was  to  be  voted,  "of  both  or  of 
none  ! "  Even  lord  Moore,  one  of  the  councillors — 
who,  with  sir  R.  Loftus,  the  brother  of  another  councillor, 
had  proved  Wentworth's  case — was  ordered  to  resume 

o 


194  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

his  seat,  and  judge  the  man  whom  he  had  accused ! 
Under  the  eye  of  the  lord  deputy  the  council  then  de- 
liberated and  voted ;  and  their  sentence  condemned 
MountnOlris  to  imprisonment,  deprived  him  of  all  his 
offices,  ignominiously  dismissed  him  from  the  army, 
incapacitated  him  from  ever  serving  again,  and,  finally, 
left  him  to  be  shot,  or  beheaded,  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
general.  Before  the  whole  court  lord  Wentworth  then 
expressed  exultation, — '*  the  sentence  was  just  and  noble, 
and  for  his  part  he  would  not  lose  his  share  of  the  honour 
of  it ! "  He  turned  afterwards  to  the  unfortunate  Mount- 
norris;  told  him  that  now,  if  he  chose,  he  had  only  to 
order  execution ;  but  that  he  would  petition  for  his  life, 
and  "would  sooner  lose  his  hand  than  Mountnorris 
should  lose  his  head." 

His  purpose  was  to  be  more  effectually  answered,  in 
truth,  by  a  contemptuous  pardon,  and  this,  from  the  first, 
he  appears  to  have  designed,  trusting  to  the  general 
ignominy  that  would  be  thrown  over  Mountnorris,  to 
crush  any  after-attempt  he  might  make  against  his  own 
power.  The  remarks  which  have  been  already  made  on 
other  personal  oppressions,  apply  here  with  still  greater 
force,  and  to  the  system  which  Wentworth  had  to  uphold 
should  the  horror  and  reproach  be  carried.  It  is  certain 
that,  at  the  period  of  this  proceeding,  lord  Clarendon 
has  justly  described  the  issue  to  which  the  positions  of 
the  parties  had  brought  them  : — "  That  either  the  deputy 
of  Ireland  must  destroy  my  lord  Mountnorris  while  he 
continued  in  his  office,  or  my  lord  Mountnorris  must 
destroy  the  deputy  as  soon  as  his  commission  was  de- 
termined." 1     Wentworth  was  not  the  man  to  leave  this 

^  The  reader  may  be  referred,  in  case  he  desires  to  pursue  this 
subject  further,  to  the  most  ample  materials  of  judgment  and  dis- 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  195 

issue  in  the  hands  of  chance, — nor,  at  the  same  time,  to 
bUnd  himself  to  the  results  of  such  conduct  as  the 
necessity  had  forced  upon  him.  "  But  if,  because  I  am 
necessitated  to  preserve  myself  from  contempt  and  scorn, 
and  to  keep  and  retain  with  me  a  capacity  to  serve  his 
majesty  with  that  honour  becoming  the  dignity  of  that 
place  I  here  by  his  majesty's  favour  exercise,  therefore  I 
must  be  taken  to  be  such  a  rigid  Cato  Censorius,  as 
should  render  me  almost  inhospitable  to  humane  kind ; 
— yet  shall  not  that  persuade  me  to  suffer  myself  to  be 
trodden  upon,  by  men  indeed  of  that  savage  and  insolent 
nature  they  would  have  me  believed  to  be,  or  to  deny 
unto  myself  and  my  own  subsistence  so  natural  a  motion 
as  is  the  defence  of  a  man's  self." 

The  wife  of  Mountnorris  was  a  kinswoman  of  the  lady 
Arabella  Hollis,  whose  memory  Wentworth  cherished 
with  such  enthusiasm,  and  "in  the  name  and  by  the 
memory  of  her  "  hoping  that  God  would  so  reward  him 
for  it  upon  "  the  sweet  children  of  her  kinswoman,"  lady 
Mountnorris,  immediately  after  the  sentence,  in  a  deeply 
pathetic  letter,  besought  Wentworth  to  take  "  his  heavy 
hand  from  off  her  dear  lord."  ^  Every  writer  concurs  in 
stating  that  this  letter  was  coldly  and  contemptuously 
disregarded  by  the  lord  deputy,  but  an  extract  from  one 
of  his  despatches  may  at  least  serve  to  throw  some  doubt 
over  such  a  statement.  "  I  send  you,"  he  writes  to 
secretary  Cooke,  "here  inclosed  the  sentence  of  the 
council  of  war  in  the  case  of  the  lord  Mountnorris.   .  .  . 


crimination  as  to  the  character  and  bearing  of  the  parties.  Strafford 
Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  73.  76.  119.  250.  349.  388.  392.  402.  et  sec/.  448. 
497.  et  seq.  502.  504.  508,  et  seq.  511.  et  seq.  514.  519.  ;  and  to  vol. 
ii.  pp.  5.  14,  et  seq.  and  145.  The  unfortunate  want  of  an  index  to 
the  Strafford  Papers  makes  these  references  necessary. 
^  Clarendon's  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  449. 


ig6  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

I  foresee  full  well,  how  I  shall  be  skirmished  upon  for  it 
on  that  side  :  causeless  traducing  and  calumniating  of 
me  is  a  spirit  that  hath  haunted  me  through  the  whole 
course  of  my  life,  and  now  become  so  ordinary  a  food,  as 
the  sharpness  and  bitterness  of  it  in  good  faith  distempers 
not  my  taste  one  jot.  Finally,  as  I  formerly  signed  the 
sentence  together  with  them,  so  do  I  most  heartily  now 
join  in  their  letters  to  you,  where  we  all  become  humble 
petitioners  to  his  majesty  for  his  life,  which  was,  God 
knows,  so  little  looked  after  by  me,  that  howbeit  I  hold 
under  favour  the  sentence  most  just,  yet  were  it  left  me 
in  choice,  whether  he  must  lose  his  head,  or  I  my  hand, 
this  should  redeem  that.  His  lordship  was  prisoner  in 
this  castle  some  two  days,  but  upon  his physiciari s  certifi- 
cate, that  the  badness  of  his  lodgi?ig  might  prejudice  his 
healthy  I  sent  him  upon  good  bond  restrained  only  to  his 
own  house,  where  he  is  like  to  remain  till  I  receive  his 
majesty s  further  pleasure  concerning  him^  It  is  most 
unlikely  that  such  an  extraordinary  favour  as  this  had 
been  granted  on  the  application  of  a  physician  merely, 
while  the  lord  deputy  had  an  obvious  reason  for  keeping 
out  of  sight  the  influence  of  the  lady. 

Some  short  time  after,  Mountnorris,  on  condition  of 
submitting  to  Wentworth,  and  acknowledging  the  justice 
of  his  sentence,  received  his  liberty.  Prosecutions,  how- 
ever, had  been  lodged  against  him  meanwhile  in  the 
star-chamber,  and  he  felt  himself  a  lowered  and  well- 
nigh  beggared  man.  "At  my  lord  Mountnorris  his 
departure  hence,"  writes  the  deputy,  "he  seemed  won- 
drously   humbled,    as   much   as   Chaucer's    friar  \   that 

^  Chaucer  and  Dr.  Donne  appear  to  have  been  Wentworth's 
favourite  poets.  Chaucer  indeed,  to  the  court  readers  of  that  day, 
was  as  Shakespeare  in  our  own .     It  is  clear  too,  from  the  frequent 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  igy 

would  not  for  him  any  thing  should  be  dead ;  so  I  told 
him  I  never  wished  ill  to  his  estate,  nor  iperson, /urfAer 
than  to  remove  him  thence^  where  he  was  as  well  a  trouble 
as  an  offence  unto  me  ;  that  being  done  (hovvbeit  thorough 
his  own  fault  with  more  prejudice  to  him  than  I  intended) 
I  could  wish  there  were  no  more  debate  betwixt  us ;  and 
I  told  him  that,  if  he  desired  it,  I  would  spare  my 
prosecution  against  him  in  the  star  chamber  there." 
Immediately  before  this  passage  occurs,  in  the  same 
letter,  Wentworth  had  remarked  : — "  I  assure  you  I  have 
had  a  churlish  winter  of  this,  nor  hath  the  gout  been 
without  other  attendants  that  do  prognostick  no  long  life 
for  me  here  below  !  Which  skills  not  much.  He  lives 
more  that  virtuously  and  generously  spruds  one  month, 


use  of  peculiar  expressions  in  his  despatches,  that  the  lord  deputy 
was  not  unacquainted,  and  that  intimately,  with  the  great  dramatist, 
though  he  never,  as  with  Chaucer  and  Donne,  quotes  connected 
passages.  It  is  worth  subjoining,  as  an  instance  out  of  many,  one 
of  Wentworth's  sneers  at  sir  Piers  Crosby — that  '*  trifle  Crosby,"  as 
he  elsewhere  calls  him.  **  Since  his  departure  I  have  neither  heard 
from  him,  nor  of  him,  more  than  that  he  vouchsafed  with  his  pretty 
composed  looks  to  give  the  Gallway  agents  countenance  and  court- 
ship before  the  eyes  of  all  the  good  people  that  looked  upon  them, 
gracing  and  ushering  them  to  and  from  all  their  appearings  before 
the  lords  ;  there  is  no  more  to  be  added  in  his  case  but  these  two 
verses  of  old  Jeffrey  Chaucer — 

*  No  where  so  busy  a  man  as  he  ther  n'as, 
And  yet  he  seemed  busier  than  he  was.'  " 

When  the  newsmonger  Garrard  heard  of  the  affair  of  Mountnorris, 
he  quotes  Dr.  Donne,  as  if  to  communicate  some  tender  sympathy 
to  his  lordship  in  that  way  : — ''When  first  I  heard  the  news,  which 
was  on  St.  Stephen's  day,  and  how  all  men  talked  of  it,  it  disorder'd 
me,  it  brake  my  sleep,  I  waked  at  four  in  the  morning,  it  made  me 
herd  the  next  day  less  in  company ; — not  that  I  believed  what  was 
said,  but  that  I  had  no  oracle,  no  such  friend  on  the  sudden  to  go 
to,  who  could  give  such  satisfaction  as  I  desired.  Noblest  lord, 
your  letter  hath  done  it ;  what  Dr.  Donne  writ  once  is  most  true, 
Sir,  more  than  kisses,  letters  mingle  souls,  for  thus  friends  absent 
speak,  &c." 


198  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

than  some  other  that  may  chance  to  dream  out  some 
years,  and  bury  himself  alive  all  the  while."  The  life  of 
the  lord  deputy  had,  indeed,  in  the  intensity  of  sensation 
it  had  required  for  its  sustainment,  covered  a  larger  span 
of  existence  than  years  can  measure,  and  now  the  term 
that  remained  to  it  was  fated  to  be  dashed  with  almost 
unceasing  anxieties  and  troubles,  more  bitter  in  proportion 
to  the  temperament  they  wrought  on. 

His  anticipations  of  the  enmity  that  would  be  provoked 
against  him  by  the  case  of  Mountnorris,  were  more  than 
realised.  Laud  ventured  to  intimate  to  him — "  I  find 
that,  notwithstanding  all  your  great  services  in  Ireland, 
which  are  most  graciously  accepted  by  the  king,  you  want 
not  them,  which  whisper,  and  perhaps  speak  louder  where 
they  think  they  may,  against  your  proceedings  in  Ireland, 
as  being  over-full  of  personal  prosecutions  against  men  of 

quality And  this  is  somewhat  loudly  spoken  by 

some  on  the  queen's  side I    know  you   have  a 

great  deal  more  resolution  in  you,  than  to  decline  any 
service  due  to  the  king,  state,  or  church,  for  the  barking 
of  discontented  persons ;  and  God  forbid  but  you  should  : 
and  yet,  my  lord,  if  you  could  find  a  way  to  do  all  these 
great  services  and  decline  these  storms,  I  think  it  would 
be  excellent  well  thought  on."  ^    To  this  advice  succeeded 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i,  p.  479.  Lord  Cottington's  account 
was  something  different: — "You  said  right,  that  Mountnorris  his 
business  wou'd  make  a  great  noise  :  for  so  it  hath,  amongst  ignorant, 
but  especially  ill-affected  people ;  but  it  hath  stuck  little  among 
the  wiser  sort,  and  begins  to  be  blown  away  amongst  the  rest." 
His  lordship,  in  the  same  letter,  communicates  to  Wentworth  a 
remarkable  sequel  to  the  affair.  The  lord  deputy,  in  order  to  pro- 
cure Mountnorris's  offices  for  his  favourites  (chiefly  young  Loftus,  the 
husband  of  a  lady  who  has  been  before  adverted  to),  had  proposed 
to  distribute  6000/.  as  a  sort  of  purchase  of  them,  to  the  principal 
English  ministers.  (Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  508.)  The  sly 
old  courtier  Cottington,  however,  into  whose  hands  the   business 


BROWNINGS  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD.  199 

Other  galling  announcements.  Lord  Clanricarde  died 
suddenly,  from  a  broken  heart  it  was  said,  in  consequence 
of  the  Galway  proceedings ;  and  the  death  of  the  sheriff 
of  that  county,  who  had  been  imprisoned  by  Wentworth, 
immediately  followed.  Both  of  these  deaths  were  laid  at 
his  door.  "  They  might  as  well,"  exclaimed  the  lord 
deputy,  adverting  to  the  first — "  they  might  as  well  have 
imputed  unto  me  for  a  crime,  his  being  threescore  and 
ten  years  old  !  "  With  cooler  satire  he  put  off  the  fate  of 
the  sheriff.  "They  will  lay  the  charge  of  Darcy  the 
sheriff's  death  unto  me.  My  arrows  are  cruel  that  wound 
so  mortally ! — but  I  should  be  more  sorry,  by  much,  the 
king  should  lose  his  fine''  Still  this  did  not  subdue 
the  daily  increasing  murmurs;  one  exaggeration  begot 
another ;  and  he  resolved  at  last,  by  a  sudden  public 
appearance  in  England,  to  confound  his  accusers,  and, 
even  in  their  very  teeth,  to  throw  for  new  marks  of 
favour. 

Permission  having  been  obtained  from  the  king,  Went- 
worth appeared  at  the  English  court  in  May,  1636.  He 
was  received  with  the  highest  favour,  and  so  delighted 
the  king  with  his  account  of  the  various  measures  by 
which  he  had  consolidated  the  government  of  Ireland, 
that  he  was  entreated  by  his  majesty  to  repeat  the  details 
"at  a  very  full  council." — "Howbeit  I  told  him,  I  feared 


fell,  hit  on  a  more  notable  expedient.  "When  William  Raylton 
first  told  me,"  he  writes,  "of  your  lordship's  intention  touching 
Mountnorris's  place  for  sir  Adam  Loftus,  and  the  distribution  of 
monies  for  the  effecting  thereof,  I  fell  upon  the  right  way,  zvhich 
was,  to  give  the  tnoney  to  him  that  really  could  do  the  business,  zvhich 
was  the  king  hi??iself ;  and  this  hath  so  far  prevailed,  as  by  this  post 
your  lordship  will  receive  his  majesty's  letter  to  that  effect ;  so  as 
there  you  have  your  business  done  without  noise."  The  money 
happened  to  be  particularly  welcome  to  Charles,  who  had  just  been 
purchasing  an  estate  !     See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  511. 


200  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OP  STRAFFORD, 

his  majesty  might  be  wearied  with  the  repetition  of  so 
long  a  narrative,  being  no  other  than  he  had  formerly- 
heard,  and  that  I  desired  therefore  I  might  give  my 
account  to  the  lords  without  his  majesty's  further  expence 
of  time,  yet  he  told  me  it  was  worthy  to  be  heard  twice, 
and  that  he  was  willing  to  have  it  so."  ^  No  wonder ! 
A  more  striking  description  was  never  spoken.  He 
detailed  all  the  measures  he  had  accomplished  for  the 
church,  the  army,  and  the  revenue,  for  manufactures  and 
commerce,  for  the  laws  and  their  administration, — and 
through  every  vigorous  and  well-aimed  word  shone  the 
author  of  all  those  measures !  Wentworth  adverted, 
towards  the  close  of  his  relation,  to  "some  particulars 
wherein  I  have  been  very  undeservedly  and  bloodily 
traduced."  He  mentioned  the  slanders  that  had  been 
circulated,  proclaiming  him  "  a  severe  and  austere  hard- 
conditioned  man,  rather  indeed  a  basha  of  Buda,  than 
the  minister  of  a  pious  Christian  king."  His  report  of 
what  followed  is  a  direct  illustration  of  much  that  has 
been  advanced  in  this  memoir.  "  Howbeit,  if  I  were  not 
much  mistaken  in  myself,  it  was  quite  the  contrary ;  no 
man  could  shew  wherein  I  had  expressed  it  in  my  nature, 
no  friend  I  had  would  charge  me  with  it  i?t  my  private  con- 
versation, no  creature  had  found  it  in  the  managing  of  my 
own  private  affairs,  so  as  if  I  stood  clear  in  all  these  re- 
spects, it  was  to  be  confessed  by  any  equal  mi?id  that  it  was  not 
a?ty  thing  within,  but  the  necessity  of  his  majesty s  service, 
which  inforced  me  into  a  seeming  strictness  outwardly. 
And  that  was  the  reason  indeed.  For  where  I  found  a 
crown,  a  church,   and   a  people  spoiled,  I  could   not 

^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  pp.  13 — 22.  The  despatch  in 
which  Wentworth  again,  for  the  third  time,  details  his  remarkable 
narrative,  is  addressed  to  Wandesford,  who,  in  the  meanwhile,  was 
administering  the  Irish  government. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  201 

imagine  to  redeem  them  from  under  the  pressure  with 
gracious  smiles  and  gentle  looks.  It  would  cost  warmer 
water  than  so  !  True  it  was,  that  where  a  dominion 
was  once  gotten  and  settled,  it  might  be  stayed  and 
kept  where  it  was  by  soft  and  moderate  counsels,  but 
where  a  sovereignty  (be  it  spoken  with  reverence)  was 
going  down  the  hill,  the  nature  of  a  man  did  so  easily 
slide  into  the  paths  of  an  uncontrouled  Hberty,  as  it 
would  not  be  brought  back  without  strength,  nor  be 
forced  up  the  hill  again  but  by  vigour  and  force.  And 
true  it  was  indeed,  I  knew  no  other  rule  to  govern  by, 
but  by  reward  and  punishment : — and  I  must  profess 
that  where  I  found  a  person  well  and  intirely  set  for  the 
service  of  my  master,  I  should  lay  my  hand  under  his 
foot,  and  add  to  his  respect  and  power  all  I  might,  and 
that  where  I  found  the  contrary,  I  should  not  handle 
him  in  my  arms,  or  soothe  him  in  his  untoward  humour, 
but  if  he  came  in  my  reach,  so  far  as  honour  and  justice 
would  warrant  me,  I  must  knock  him  soundly  over  the 
knuckles,  but  no  sooner  he  become  a  new  man,  apply 
himself  as  he  ought  to  the  government,  but  I  also  change 
my  temper,  and  express  my  self  to  him,  as  unto  that 
other,  by  all  the  good  offices  I  could  do  him.  If  this 
be  sharpness,  if  this  be  severity,  I  desired  to  be  in- 
structed better  by  his  majesty  and  their  lordships,  for 
in  truth  it  did  not  seem  so  to  me ;  however,  if  I  were 
once  told,  that  his  majesty  liked  not  to  be  thus  served, 
I  would  readily  conform  myself,  follow  the  bent  and 
current  of  my  own  disposition,  which  is  to  be  quiet, 
not  to  have  debates  and  disputes  with  any.  Here  his 
majesty  interrupted  me  and  said,  that  was  no  severity, 
wished  me  to  go  on  in  that  way,  for,  if  I  served  him 
otherwise,  I  should  not  serve  him  as  he  expected  from  me." 


202  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Wentworth  left  the  court  for  Wentworth  Woodhouse, 
loaded  with  the  applause  of  the  king  and  his  lords  of  the 
council,  and  followed  by  the  aweful  gaze  of  doubting 
multitudes. 

As  he  passed  through  York,  he  was  arrested  by  en- 
thusiastic friends,  and  with  some  difficulty  escaped  them. 
"  I  am  gotten  hither,"  he  writes  to  Laud,  ''at  last,  to  a 
poor  house  I  have,  having  been  this  last  week  almost 
feasted  to  death  at  York.  In  truth,  for  any  thing  I  can 
find,  they  were  not  ill-pleased  to  see  me.  Sure  I  am  it 
much  contented  me  to  be  amongst  my  old  acquaintance, 
which  I  would  not  leave  for  any  other  affection  I  have, 
but  to  that  which  I  both  profess  and  owe  to  the  person 
of  his  sacred  majesty.  Lord  !  with  what  quietness  in 
myself  could  I  live  here  in  comparison  of  that  noise  and 
labour  I  meet  with  elsewhere;  and,  I  protest,  put  up 
more  crowns  in  my  purse  at  the  year's  end  too !  But 
we'll  let  that  pass.  For  I  am  not  like  to  enjoy  that 
blessed  condition  upon  earth.  And  therefore  my  resolu- 
tion is  set  to  endure  and  struggle  with  it  so  long  as  this 
crazy  body  will  bear  it,  and  finally  drop  into  the  silent 
grave,  where  both  all  these  (which  I  now  could,  as  I 
think,  innocently  delight  myself  in)  and  myself  are 
to  be  forgotten.  And  fare  them  well  !  I  persuade 
myself  exuto  Lepido  I  am  able  to  lay  them  down  very 
quietly.''  ^ 

His  rest  was  extremely  short,  for  he  soon  re-appeared 
in  York,  discharged  several  of  the  duties  of  his  presi- 
dency, and  fell  with  all  his  accustomed  vigour  on  the 
collection  of  ship-money.  That  famous  tax  had  recently 
been  levied.  The  same  success  waited  upon  Wentworth's 
present  measures  in  respect  to  it,  as  the  capacity  and 
^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  26. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  203 

energy  which  animated  all  he  did  almost  invariably  com- 
manded. In  every  other  county,  murmurs,  threats,  and 
curses,  accompanied  the  payment, — in  Yorkshire,  during 
Wentworth's  presence,  silence.  His  letter  to  the  king 
reads  like  one  of  his  Irish  despatches.  "  In  pursuit  of 
your  commands,  I  have  effectually,  both  in  public  and 
private,  recommended  the  justice  and  necessity  of  the 
shipping  business,  and  so  clearly  shown  it  to  be,  not  only 
for  the  honour  of  the  kingdom  in  general,  but  for  every 
man's  particular  safety,  that  I  am  most  confident  the 
assessment  this  next  year  will  be  universally  and  cheer- 
fully answered  within  this  jurisdiction."  ^ 

The  lord  deputy,  as  the  time  approached  for  his  return 
to  his  government,  unburthened  himself  of  a  suit  to  the 
king  which  he  now  felt  concerned  him  daily  more  and 
more.  For  the  second  time  he  entreated  from  Charles 
the  honour  of  an  earldom.  He  begged  it  in  refutation 
of  the  malicious  insinuations  of  his  enemies,  to  prove 
that  their  calumnies  were  disbelieved,  and  to  strengthen 
him  in  the  eyes  of  the  Irish.  At  the  same  'time  he  wrote 
to  Laud,  teUing  him  plainly  the  use  the  enemies  of  the 
state  were  making  of  the  king's  withholding  from  his 
deputy  some  public  mark  of  his  favour,  and  urging  the 
danger  it  threatened  to  his  authority  and  to  the  public 
service.  Again  Wentworth's  suit  was  rejected.  Since 
Charles's  last  answer,  his  reasons  for  refusal  had  increased 
every  way.  His  reply  was  peremptory.  "  Believe  it,  the 
marks  of  my  favours   that  stop  malicious   tongues  are 

^  In  a  subsequent  letter  Wentworth  wrote  : — "  I  forgot  in  my  last 
humbly  to  offer  my  opinion,  that  in  case  your  majesty  find  or  appre- 
hend any  backwardness  in  the  south,  it  were  good  the  next  year's 
writs  for  the  shipping  assessment  were  hastened  first  down  into  these 
parts,  where  they  are  sure  to  find  no  opposition,  or  unwillingness, 
which  example  may  rather  further  than  hinder  in  the  right  way, 
which  others  ought  to  follow  elsewhere. 


204  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

neither  places  nor  titles,  but  the  little  welcome  I  give  to 
accusers,  and  the  willing  ear  I  give  to  my  servants." 
The  jest  with  which  his  majesty's  letter  closed  did  not 
mend  the  matter.  "  I  will  end  with  a  rule  that  may  serve 
for  a  statesman,  a  courtier,  or  a  lover, — never  make  a 
defence  or  apology  before  you  be  accused."  The  lord 
deputy  felt  this  deeply.  "  I  wish,"  he  wrote  to  Laud, 
"thorough  the  opinion  that  I  stand  not  full  to  his 
majesty's  liking  in  my  service  in  this  place,  his  majesty's 
affairs  may  not  suffer  as  well  as  myself.  But  fall  that  as 
it  may,  I  am  resolved  never  to  stir  that  stone  more,  dead 
to  me  it  is  to  be  for  ever.  Indeed  I  neither  think  of  it, 
nor  look  for  it."  His  friend  George  Butler  he  recom- 
mended to  look  for  rewards  and  punishments  in  the  next 
world ;  "  for  in  good  faith,  George,  all  below  are  grown 
wonderous  indifferent."  Nor  did  Wentworth  scruple  to 
exhibit  very  broadly  to  the  king  the  still  rankUng  dis- 
appointment. "  Out  of  the  truth  of  my  heart,"  he  wrote, 
"  and  with  that  liberty  your  majesty  is  pleased  to  afford 
me  (which  shall  nevertheless  ever  retain  all  the  humility, 
modesty,  and  secrecy  possible),  admit  me  to  say,  reward 
well  applied  advantages  the  services  of  kings  extreamly 
much.  It  being  most  certain,  that  not  one  man  of  very 
many  serve  their  masters  for  love,  but  for  their  own  ends 
and  preferments,  and  that  he  is  in  the  rank  of  the  best 
servants,  that  can  be  content  to  serve  his  master  together 
with  himself.  Finally,  I  am  most  confident,  were  your 
majesty  purposed  but  for  a  while  to  use  the  excellent 
wisdom  God  hath  given  you  in  the  constant,  right,  and 
quick  applying  of  rewards  and  punishments,  it  were  a 
thing  most  easy  for  your  servants  in  a  very  few  years, 
under  your  conduct  and  protection,  so  to  settle  all  your 
affairs  and  dominions,  as  should  render  you,  not  only  at 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  205 

home  but  abroad  also,  the  most  powerful  and  considerable 
king  in  Christendom."  ^ 

With  Laud,  Wentworth  communicated  more  freely  on 
this  subject,  and  in  one  of  his  more  desponding  letters 
suddenly  consoles  himself  with  Dr.  Donne  and  'Vandyke. 
*'  I  most  humbly  thank  your  lordship  for  your  noble  care 
and  counsel  tending  to  the  preservation  of  my  health,  a 
free  bounty  it  is  of  your  love  towards  me,  where  other- 
wise of  myself  I  am  so  wondrous  little  considerable  to 
any  body  else.  The  lady  Astrea,  the  poet  tells  us,  is  long 
since  gone  to  heaven,  but  under  favour  I  can  yet  find 
reward  and  punishment  on  earth.  Indeed  sometimes 
they  are  like  Doctor  Donn's  '  anagram  of  a  good  face,'  ^ 
the  ornaments  missed,  a  yellow  tooth,  a  red  eye,  a  white 
lip  or  so  1  and  seeing  that  all  beauties  take  not  all  affec- 
tions, one  man  judging  that  a  deformity,  which  another 
considers  as  a  perfection  or  a  grace,  this  methinks 
convinceth  the  certain  incertainty  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments. Howsoever  he  is  the  wisest  commonly,  the 
greatest,  and  happiest  man,  and  shall  surely  draw  the 
fairest  table  of  his  life,  that  understands  with  Vandike, 
how  to  dispose  of  these  shadows,  best,  to  make  up  his 
own  comeliness  and  advantage."  ^  Whereupon  his  grace 
of  Canterbury  warns  the  lord  deputy  from  Vandyke  and 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  41. 

2  "  Marry  and  love  thy  Flavia,  for  she 

Hath  all  things  whereby  others  beauteous  be  ; 
For  though  her  eyes  be  small,  her  mouth  is  great ; 
Though  theirs  be  ivory,  yet  her  teeth  be  jet ; 

&c.  &c.  &c. 

What  though  her  cheeks  be  yellow,  her  hair's  red  ; 

*  *  *  ♦ 

Though  all  her  parts  be  not  in  th'  usual  place, 
She  hath  yet  the  anagrams  of  a  good  face  ! "        Second  Elegy. 

3  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  158. 


2o6  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

Dr.  Donne,  into  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes. — "  Once  for 
all,  if  you  will  but  read  over  the  short  book  of  Ecclesi- 
astes, while  these  thoughts  are  in  you,  you  will  see  a 
better  disposition  of  these  things,  and  the  vanity  of  all 
their  shadows,  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  anagrams  of 
Dr.  Donne's,  or  any  designs  of  Vandyke.  So  to  the  lines 
there  drawn  I  leave  you."  ^ 

Disappointed  of  that  public  mark  of  favour  he  had 
claimed  so  justly,  but  strengthened  by  private  instruc- 
tions 2  from  the  king  which  left  no  bound  or  limit  to  his 
power,  lord  Wentworth  returned  to  Ireland.  He  resumed 
his  measures  precisely  at  the  point  in  which  he  had  left 
them,  overawed  every  effort  to  disturb  the  breathless 
tranquilHty  which  his  energy  had  inspired,  and,  under  his 
vigilant  eye,  the  infant  cultivation,  manufactures,  and 
commerce  of  the  country,  began  to  increase  and  prosper. 
"While  the  subject  enjoyed  security,  from  the  entire 
suppression  of  internal  insurrections  and  depredations, 
the  royal  revenues,  arising  from  produce  and  consumption, 
experienced  a  rapid  increase."  ^  This  "  security,"  how- 
ever, was  never  felt  to  be  other  than  that  of  absolutism, 
for  Wentworth,  hand  in  hand  with  his  most  striking 
financial  improvements,  carried  on  his  inquiries  into 
defective  titles  with  a  terrible  rigour.  He  placed  at  the 
king's  disposal  the  entire  district  of  Ormond,  and  in  his 
Irish  exchequer  the  sum  of  15,000/.,  wrung  from  the 
family  of  the    O'Byrnes  in    Wicklow,   to  redeem   their 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  169* 

2  See  his  letter  to  Wandesford,  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  13. 
et  seq. 

3  Mr.  MacDiarmid,  whose  summary  of  Wentworth's  financial 
measures  is  very  able.  I  have  occasionally  availed  myself  of  it. 
See  Lives  of  British  Statesmen,  vol.  ii,  pp.  170— 181.  The  des- 
patches of  the  lord  deputy,  in  the  early  portion  of  the  second  volume 
of  the  Strafford  Papers,  are  singularly  powerful. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  '        207 

possessions  from  a  similar  award.  Successful  in  every 
effort  he  made,  he  did  not  care  to  call  into  request  the 
new  powers  he  had  been  entrusted  with. 

Not  a  messenger  or  a  letter  arrived  from  England, 
however,  without  news  that  dashed  his  prosperity  and  his 
pride.  He  saw  as  much  beyond  the  narrow  vision  of  the 
English  courtiers  as  his  sagacity  outreached  theirs,  and, 
in  the  hollow  madness  of  their  measures,  had  already 
discerned  disastrous  issues.  The  ruin  they  were  pre- 
cipitating, he  bitterly  knew  would  involve  himself;  yet 
he  had  not  even  the  poor  consolation  of  feeling,  that  the 
only  portion  of  the  king's  service  that  had  in  it  any  of 
the  elements  of  stability,  his  own  government,  had  a 
single  hearty  defender  in  that  English  court.  Their 
praises  obsequiously  waited  on  his  presence  alone.  Laud, 
indeed,  was  still  his  friend ;  but  Laud's  ecclesiastical 
administration  had  by  this  time  well  nigh  incapacitated 
its  master  for  any  purpose  of  good.  The  popular  party 
in  England,  meanwhile,  taking  advantage  of  the  occasion, 
raised  a  loud  and  violent  voice  of  clamour  against  the 
lord  deputy  of  Ireland.  He  flung  it  back,  in  the  hasty 
self  bullying  of  his  will,  with  a  contemptuous  scorn  \ — 

1  "In  truth,"  he  wrote  to  Laud,  *'  I  still  wish  (and  take  it  also  to 
be  a  very  charitable  one)  Mr.  Hambden  and  others  to  his  likeness 
were  well  whipt  into  their  right  senses  ;  if  that  the  rod  be  so  used  as 
that  it  smarts  not,  I  am  the  more  sorry.  One  good  remedy  were  to 
send  for  your  chimney-sweeper  of  Oxford,  who  will  sing  you  a  song 
made  of  one  Bond,  it  seems  a  schoolmaster  of  the  free-school  of  St. 
Paul's,  London,  and  withal  show  how  to  jerk,  to  temper  the  voice, 
to  guide  the  hand,  to  lay  on  the  rod  excellently ;  sure  I  am  he  made 
me  laugh  heartily  when  I  was  there  last  ;  and  the  chancellor  of  the 
university  might  with  a  word  fetch  up  to  your  lordship  at  Lambeth, 
both  the  person  and  the  poems  (for  I  must  tell  you  there  is  the 
second,  if  not  the  third  part  of  the  song),  and  then  bring  but  Mr. 
Hambden  and  Bond  in  place,  and  it  may  every  way  prove  a  three 
man's  song.  But  fetch  in  the  nobleman  you  mention,  and  then  it 
may  chance  to  prove  a  very  full  concert !  As  ivell  as  I  think  of  Mr. 
Hambden^s  abiliiies^  I  take  his  will  and  peevishness  to  be  full  as 


2o8  BROWNING'S  LIFE    OF  STRAFFORD. 

but  he  knew  secretly  its  power,  and  in  his  graver  des- 
patches warned  the  court  from  leaving  him  unprotected 
to  its  effects  : — "  With  the  disesteem  of  the  governor,"  he 
wrote,  "  the  government  shall  impair,  if  not  in  the  ex- 
istence, sure  in  the  beauty  of  it,  which  is  as  considerable, 
as  that  most  men  are  guided  and  guide  themselves  by 
opinion.  So  as,  if  you  will  have  my  philosophy  in  the 
point,  let  no  prince  employ  a  servant  longer  than  he  is 
resolved  to  have  him  valued  and  esteemed  by  others, 
thorough  those  powers  he  shall  manifest  to  be  entrusted 
with  him."  Still  he  saw  no  symptoms  of  what  he  desired, 
and  at  last  he  wrote  personally  to  the  king.  "  Sir,"  he 
said,  ''  I  take  my  natural  inclinations  to  be  extreamly 
much  more  tender  and  gentle,  than  the  smooth  looks  and 
cheeks  of  your  ministers  on  that  side  find  in  their  own 
bosoms,  and  yet  heighten  the  cry  upon  me ! "  But 
Charles  had  now  the  queen's  influence  in  many  respects 
upon  him,  and  the  queen  was  not  displeased  to  hear  of 
the  sinking  fortunes  of  Wentworth.  Lord  'Holland,  her 
favourite  counsellor,  was  even  heard  to  insinuate  that  the 
lord  deputy  was  subject  to  occasional  touches  of  madness. 
This,  among  the  other  reports,  came  to  Wentworth's  ear. 
He  charged  it  upon  Holland,  who  denied  it,  confessing 
he  might  have  attributed  "  hypochondriack  humours," 
certainly  not  madness.  Wentworth  wrote  back  to  the 
king  : — "  As  for  the  '  hypochondriack  humour '  his  lord- 
ship mentions,  it  is  a  great  word  and  a  courtly  phrase ; 
but  if  I  mistake  not  the  English  of  it,  it  is  to  be  civilly 
and  silently  maddish  :  and  if  so,  I  can  assure  his  lordship, 

great,  and  without  diminution  to  him,  judge  the  other,  howbeit  not 
the  father  of  the  country  (a  title  some  will  not  stick  to  give  unto  them 
both,  to  put  them  if  it  be  possible,  the  faster  and  farther  out  of  their 
wits),  the  vQry  sinciput,  the  vertical  point  of  the  whole  faction." — 
Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  158. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  209 

he  shall  find  as  little  of  that  in  me,  as  of  any  other  more 
active  heat.  But  I  shall  not  stir  that  matter  further, 
only,  if  it  be  denied  his  lordship  said  I  was  mad,  it  were 
very  easy  to  shew  his  memory  might  fail  him  some- 
times. .  .  .  Your  majesty  may  be  pleased  to  excuse  this 
foul  writing,  being  in  truth  so  tormented  in  the  present 
with  the  toothach,  as  troubles  my  sense  more  than  the 
mistaken  reports  of  any  others  shall  do."  Sad  indeed 
were  the  bodily  infirmities  which  exasperated  these  com- 
plainings of  the  lord  deputy.  The  gout,  the  toothach, 
the  ague,  an  intermittent  pulse,  faint  sweats  and  heavi- 
ness, and,  to  crown  all,  the  frightful  disorder  of  the  stone, 
alternately  broke  his  spirits,  and  warned  him  "  that  no 
long  life  awaited  him  here  below  !  " 

What  still  remained  to  him,  he  yet  resolved  to  live  out 
bravely.  ''  A  frame  of  wood,"  he  writes  to  Laud,  "  I  have 
given  order  to  set  up  in  a  park  I  have  in  the  county  of 
Wickloe.  And,  gnash  the  tooth  of  these  gallants  never 
so  hard,  I  will  by  God's  leave  go  on  with  it,  that  so  I 
may  have  a  place  to  take  my  recreation  for  a  month  or 
two  in  a  year,  were  it  for  no  other  reason  than  to  dis- 
please them,  by  keeping  myself,  if  so  please  God,  a  little 
longer  in  health."  1  Among  other  reports  to  his  prejudice 
had  been  that  of  "building  up  to  the  sky."^  We  find 
him  afterwards  adverting  to  this  : — ''  I  acknowledge,  that 
were  myself  only  considered  in  what  I  build,  it  were  not 
only  to  excess,  but  even  to  folly,  having  already  houses 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  106. 

2  Ibid.  p.  107.  His  expensive  repairs  of  the  castle  of  Dublin  had 
also  been  reproached  to  him.  But  on  his  first  arrival  he  had  certainly 
alleged  a  good  case  of  necessity  to  Cooke  : — **  This  castle  is  in  very 
great  decay.  I  have  been  inforced  to  take  down  one  of  the  great 
towers,  which  was  ready  to  fall,  and  the  rest  are  so  crasy,  as  we 
are  still  in  fear  part  of  it  might  drop  down  upon  our  heads."  vol.  i. 
p.  131. 

P 


:2io  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

moderate  for  my  condition  in  Yorkshire  : — but  his  majesty- 
will  justify  me,  that  at  my  last  being  in  England,  I 
acquainted  him  with  a  purpose  I  had  to  build  him  a 
house  at  the  Naas,  it  being  uncomely  his  majesty  should 
not  have  one  here  of  his  own,  capable  to  lodge  him  with 
moderate  conveniency  (which  in  truth  as  yet  he  hath  not), 
in  case  he  might  be  pleased  sometimes  hereafter  to  look 
upon  this  kingdom ;  and  that  it  was  necessary  in  a 
manner,  for  the  dignity  of  this  place,  and  the  health  of 
his  deputy  and  family,  that  there  should  be  one  removing 
house  of  fresh  air,  for  want  whereof,  I  assure  your  lord- 
ship, I  have  felt  no  small  inconvenience  since  my  coming 
hither ;  that  when  it  was  built,  if  liked  by  his  majesty,  it 
should  be  his,  paying  me  as  it  cost,  if  disliked,  a  suo 
damno,  I  was  content  to  keep  it  and  smart  for  my  folly. 
His  majesty  seemed  to  be  pleased  with  all,  whereupon  I 
proceeded,  and  have  in  a  manner  finished  it,  and  so  con- 
trived it  for  the  rooms  of  state,  and  other  accommodations 
which  I  have  observed  in  his  majesty's  houses,  as  I  had 
been,  indeed,  stark  mad  ever  to  have  cast  it  so  for  a  private 
family  y  ^ 

Between  these  two  royal  residences  Wentworth  now 
divided  a  great  portion  of  his  time.  His  mode  of  living 
equalled  in  magnificence  the  houses  themselves.  At  his 
own  charge  he  maintained  a  retinue  of  50  attendants, 

^  The  remains  of  this  building,  which  was  called  Juggarstowne 
Castle,  are  visible  still,  and,  I  am  informed  by  gentlemen  who  have 
seen  them,  sufificiently  indicate  its  extraordinary  grandeur  and  extent. 
They  cover  several  acres.  They  are  close  to  the  road  side,  about 
sixteen  Irish  miles  from  Dublin,  and  provoke,  even  now,  from  many 
an  unreflecting  passer  by,  a  curse  upon  the  memory  of  "  Black  Tom." 
Such  is  the  name  by  which  the  Irish  peasantry  still  remember 
Strafford.  When  M.  Boullaye-le-Gouz  visited  Ireland,  he  found 
this  castle  in  the  property  and  possession  of  sir  George  Wentworth, 
Strafford's  brother,  and  guarded  by  forty  English  soldiers. — Mr. 
Croker^s  MS. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD  21 1 

besides  his  troop  of  100  horse,  which  he  had  originally 
raised  and  equipped  at  an  expense  of  6000/.,  and  kept 
up  at  an  enormous  yearly  cost.  This  style  of  living, 
which  he  took  care  to  bear  out  in  every  other  respect, 
he  characteristically  vindicated  to  Cottington  as  "  an  ex- 
pence  not  of  vanity,  but  of  necessity,  judging  it  not  to 
become  me,  having  the  great  honour  to  represent  his 
majesty's  sacred  person,  to  set  it  forth,  no  not  in  any  ofie- 
circumstance,  in  a  penurious  mean  manner,  before  the  eyes 
of  a  wild  and  rude  people.''  ^  Nor  did  he  scruple  to 
conceal  the  fact,  that  his  own  private  fortune  had  been 
assisted,  in  these  vast  charges,  by  certain  public  profits. 
"  It  is  very  true,"  he  writes  to  Laud,  "  I  have,  under  the 
blessing  of  Almighty  God,  and  the  *  protection  of  his 
majesty,  6000/.  a  year  good  land,  which  I  brought  with 
me  into  his  service ;  and  I  have  a  share  for  a  short  term 
in  these  customs,  which,  whilst  his  majesty's  revenue  is 
there  increased  more  than  20,000/.  by  year,  proves  never- 
theless a  greater  profit  to  me  than  ever  I  dreamt  of." 
When  Laud  read  this  passage  to  Charles,  the  king 
observed,  impatiently,  "  but  he  doth  not  tell  you  how 
much,"  and  plainly  intimated  that  he  grudged  the 
minister  his  share  of  profit.  ^  Wentworth  had  few  occa- 
sions of  gratitude  to  Charles  during  a  life  worn  out  in 
his  service  !  In  respect  of  these  customs,  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  Charles's  suspicions  were  grossly  unjust. 
He  would  have  had  more  of  abstract  justice  with  him  in 
objecting  to  a  different  source  of  his  lord  deputy's 
revenue,  that  of  the  tobacco  monopoly,  for,  on  the  latter 

1  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  128. 

2  Laud  writes  : — "  I  have  of  late  heard  some  muttering  about  it 
in  court,  but  can  meet  with  nothing  to  fasten  on  :  only  it  makes  me 
doubt  some  body  hath  been  nibbling  about  it." — See  Strafford 
Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  127. 


212  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

ground,  undoubtedly,  Wentworth  was  open  to  grave 
charges,  though,  even  here,  the  king  was  the  last  person 
from  whom  with  any  propriety  they  could  issue. 

The  lord  deputy's  private  habits  have  been  described. 
He  hawked,  he  hunted^,  and  fished 2,  whenever  his 
infirmities  gave  him  respite.  He  passed  some  of  his 
time  also  among  books,  and,  in  one  portion  at  least  of 
these  studies,  had  his  thoughts  upon  a  stormy  political 

^  Wittily  he  writes  to  Laud  : — "  We  are  in  expectance  every  hour 
to  hear  what  becomes  of  us  and  the  lord  chancellor — io  say  the  plain 
truth,  whether  we  shall  have  a  government  or  no  ;  and  to  the  intent 
that  I  might  be  the  better  in  titrumque paratus,  at  this  present  I  atn 
playing  the  Robin  Hood,  and  here  in  the  country  of  mountains  and 
woods  hunting  and  chacing  all  the  out-lying  deer  I  can  light  of. 
But  to  confess  truly,  I  met  with  a  very  shrewd  rebuke  the  other 
day:  for,  standing  to 'get  a  shoot  at  a  buck,  I  was  so  damnably 
bitten  with  midges,  as  my  face  is  all  mezled  over  ever  since,  itches 
still  as  if  it  were  mad.  The  marks  they  set  will  not  go  off  again,  I 
will  awarrant  you,  this  week.  I  never  felt  or  saw  such  in  England. 
Surely  they  are  younger  brothers  to  the  muskitoes  the  Indies  brag 
on  so  much.  I  protest,  I  could  even  now  well  find  in  my  heart  to 
play  the  shrew  soundly,  and  scratch  my  face  in  six  or  seven  places." 
— Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  173.  This  allusion  to  the  lord  chan- 
cellor had  reference  to  a  judgment  recently  given  against  that 
dignitary  by  Wentworth  himself,  in  a  suit  brought  against  him  by 
sir  John  Gifford,  on  behalf  of  sir  Francis  Ruishe,  for  an  increase  of 
portion  to  the  lady  who  had  married  young  Loftus  : — "According 
to  the  lord  chancellor's  own  clear  agreement  with  sir  Fi-ancis  Ruishe, 
father  to  the  lady."  These  are  Wentworth's  words.  The  chan- 
cellor refused  to  submit  to  the  judgment  on  the  ground  that  the 
action  ought  to  have  been  brought  in  the  ordinary  courts  of  law, 
and  that  the  tribunal  before  which  it  was  tried  was  both  illegal  and 
partial.  Wentworth  upon  this  had  resorted  to  his  usual  severity, 
and  was  now  waiting  its  issue  with  the  king.  It  may  be  worth 
stating,  that  mistakes  have  been  made  with  respect  to  the  name  of 
the  lady  chiefly  affected  in  this  case,  by  Mr.  MacDiarmid  and  other 
writers,  in  consequence  of  sir  John  Gifford  having  brought  the 
original  action.     She  was  lady  Loftus,  not  lady  Gifford. 

^  For  some  accounts  of  his  fishing  exploits,  see  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p. 
213.  &c.  Laud  appears  to  have  relished  the  lord  deputy's  presents 
of  "dryed  fish  "  amazingly,  and  to  have  been  anything  but  fond  of 
his  "  hung  beef  out  of  Yorkshire."  His  grace  had  a  shrewd  eye  to 
appetite: — "Since  you  are  for  both  occupations,  flesh  and  fish,  I 
wonder  you  do  not  think  of  powdering  or  drying  some  of  your  Irish 
venison,  and  send  that  over  to  brag  too." 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  21 


future.  "  I  wish,"  writes  his  friend  lord  Conway  to  him, 
"you  had  had  your  fit  of  the  gout  in  England,  lest  you 
should  attribute  something  of  the  disease  to  the  air  of 
that  country.  I  send  you  the  duke  of  Rohan's  book, 
'Le  parfait  Capitaine.'  Do  not  think  the  gout  is  an 
excuse  from  fightings  for  the  count  Mansfelt  had  the  gout 
that  day  he  fought  the  battle  of  Fleury.'''^  In  the  pleasures 
of  the  table  he  indulged  little.  "  He  was  exceeding 
temperate,"  observes  Radcliffe,  "  in  meat,  drink,  and 
recreations.  He  was  no  whit  given  to  his  appetite ; 
though  he  loved  to  see  good  meat  at  his  table,  yet  he  eat 
very  little  of  it  himself :  beef  or  rabbits  was  his  ordinary 
food,  or  cold  powdered  meats,  or  cheese  and  apples,  and 
in  moderate  quantity.  He  was  never  drunk  in  his  life, 
as  I  have  often  heard  him  say ;  and  for  so  much  as  I 
had  seen,  I  had  reason  to  believe  him :  yet  he  was  not 
so  scrupulous  but  he  would  drink  healths  where  he  liked 
his  company,  and  be  sociable  as  any  of  his  society,  and 
yet  still  within  the  bounds  of  temperance.  In  Ireland, 
where  drinking  was  grown  a  disease  epidemical,  he  was 
more  strict  publickly,  never  suffering  any  health  to  be 
drunk  at  his  publick  table  but  the  king's,  queen's,  and 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  45.  Some  of  lord  Conway's  letters 
referred  to  matters  not  quite  so  decent,  and  the  lord  deputy's  replies 
gave  him  no  advantage  on  that  score.  See  Papers,  vol.  ii.  pp.  144 
— 146.  Conway's  acquaintance  with  his  intrigues  has  already  re- 
ceived notice,  and  the  following  passage  from  one  of  Wentworth's 
letters  to  this  confidant  is  not  a  little  significant : — *'  I  desire  your 
judgment  of  the  inclosed,  which  was  written  to  this  your  servant  the 
other  day,  and  chancing  to  open  and  read  it  in  the  presence,  I  burst 
out  before  I  got  it  read,  that  the  standers-by  wondered  what  merry 
tale  it  might  be  that  letter  told  me.  But  I  must  conjure  you  to  send 
it  me  back,  not  to  trust  it  forth  of  your  hands,  only  if  you  will,  I  am 
content  you  shew  it  my  lord  of  Northumberland,  and  my  lady  of 
Carlile,  lest  if  it  were  shewn  to  others  they  might  judge  me  Vane, 
or  something  else,  of  so  princely  a  favour  !  For  less,  the  least  of 
her  commands  are  not  to  be  taken, — what  then  may  we  term  these 
her  earnest  desires  ?  " 


2  14  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

prince's,  on  solemn  days.  Drunkenness  in  his  servants 
was,  in  his  esteem,  one  of  the  greatest  faults."  Through- 
out his  various  admirable  letters  to  his  young  wards,  the 
Saviles,  in  whose  education  he  took  extreme  interest 
always,  the  hatred  of  this  vice  is  still  more  character- 
istically shown.  He  returns  to  the  warning  again  and 
again,  coupling  with  drunkenness  the  equal  vice  of 
gaming, — the  one  a  "  pursuit  not  becoming  a  generous 
noble  heart,  which  will  not  brook  such  starved  consider- 
ations as  the  greed  of  winning," — the  other,  one  "  that 
shall  send  you,  by  unequal  staggering  paces,  to  your 
grave,  with  confusion  of  face."  ^ 

No  public  duty  was  neglected  meanwhile,  for,  from 
his  country  parks  and  castles,  Wentworth  in  an  hour  or 
two  could  appear  in  the  Dublin  presence-chamber.  The 
king  sent  him  every  license  he  required  against  the  lord 
chancellor  Loftus,  and  that  nobleman,  for  having  dis- 
puted the  judicial  functions  of  the  deputy,  "  that  trans- 
cendent power  of  a  chancellor,"  as  Wentworth  scornfully 
called  him,  was  deprived  of  the  seals,  and  committed  to 
prison  till  he  consented  to  submit  to  the  award  and  to 
acknowledge  his  error.^ 

But  while  the  king  thus  secretly  authorised  these  acts 
of  despotism,  the  English  court,  no  less  than  the  English 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  169,  &c.  And  see  an  admirable 
letter  at  p.  311.  of  vol.  ii. 

^  This  case  was  brought  forward  at  the  impeachment,  and  was 
much  aggravated  by  a  discovery,  which  has  been  before  named,  in 
reference  to  the  young  lady  Loftus.  "  In  the  prefering  this  charge," 
says  Clarendon,  "  many  things  of  levity,  as  certain  letters  of  great 
affection  and  familiarity  from  the  earl  to  that  lady,  which  were  found 
in  her  cabinet  after  her  death,  others  of  passion,  were  exposed  to 
the  public  view."  (vol,  i.  p.  175.)  Ample  details  of  the  entire 
course  of  the  transaction  will  be  found  in  referring  to  the  Strafford 
Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  67.  et  seq,  82.  160.  et  seq.  172.  et  seq.  179.  196. 
205.  227.  et  seq.  259.  etseq.  298.  341.  369.  375.  389. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  215 

nation,  were  known  to  be  objecting  to  their  author. 
Impatiently  he  wrote  to  Laud,  demanding  at  least  the 
charge,  something  on  which  to  ground  an  issue — "  The 
humour  which  offends  me,"  he  exclaims,  **  is  not  so  much 
anger  as  scorn,  and  desire  to  wrest  out  from  amongst 
them  my  charge  ;  for,  as  they  say,  if  I  might  come  to  fight 
for  my  life,  it  would  never  trouble  me,  indeed  I  should  then 
weigh  them  all  very  light,  and  be  safe  under  the  goodness, 
wisdom,  and  justice  of  my  master.  Again,  howbeit  I  am 
resolved  of  the  truth  of  all  this,  yet  to  accuse  myself  is 
very  uncomely.  I  love  not  to  put  on  my  armour  before 
there  be  cause,  in  regard  I  never  do  so,  but  I  find  myself 
the  wearier  and  sorer  for  it  the  next  morning." 

He  could  get  no  satisfactory  answer  to  this,  for  in 
truth  the  English  court  by  this  time  had  enough  upon 
its  hands.  The  king  meditated  a  war  with  Spain,  for  the 
recovery  of  the  palatinate,  to  which  he  was  the  rather 
urged  by  the  queen,  since  France  had  already  engaged. 
Fortunately,  before  taking  this  step,  he  was  induced  to 
advise  with  the  lord  deputy  of  Ireland.  This  was  the 
first  time  Wentworth  had  ever  been  consulted  on  the 
general  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  and  he  instantly  forwarded 
a  paper  of  opposing  reasons  to  the  king,  so  strongly  and 
so  ably  stated,  that  the  war  project  was  given  up.^  The 
queen's  indifferent  feeling  to  him,  it  may  well  be  supposed, 
was  not  removed  by  such  policy. 2 

^  The  document  will  be  found  in  the  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  60 
— 64.  It  is  one  of  the  ablest  of  Wentworth's  arguments  for  his  scheme 
of  absolute  power.  He  takes  occasion  to  say  in  it : — "  The  opinion 
delivered  by  the  judges,  declaring  the  lawfulness  of  the  assignment 
for  the  shipping,  is  the  greatest  service  that  profession  hath  done  the 
crown  in  my  time," 

2  It  ought  to  be  stated,  to  Wentworth's  honour,  that,  though  he 
much  desired  to  have  stood  well  with  her  majesty,  he  declined  to 
purchase  her  favour  by  acts  inconsistent  with  his  own  public  schemes. 


2i6  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

The  peace,  however,  which  lord  Went  worth  so  earnestly 
recommended,  was  now  more  fatally  broken.  The  whole 
Scottish  nation  rose  against  Charles,  in  consequence  of 
Laud's  rehgious  innovations.  Wentworth  was  not  at 
first  consulted  respecting  these  commotions,  but  he  had 
thrown  out  occasional  advice  in  his  despatches  which 
was  found  singularly  serviceable.^  He  strove  as  far  as 
possible,  by  urging  strong  defensive  measures,  to  prevent 
an  open  rupture.  "  If,"  he  wrote  to  Charles,  "  the  war 
were  with  a  foreign  enemy,  I  should  like  well  to  have  the 
first  blow ;  but  being  with  your  majesty s  own  natu7'al, 
howbeit  rebellious  subjects^  it  seems  to  me  a  tender  point  to 
draw  blood  first ;  for  till  it  come  to  that,  all  hope  is  not 
lost  of  reconciliation ;  and  I  would  not  have  them  with 
the  least  colour  impute  it  to  your  majesty  to  have  put  all 
to  extremity,  till  their  own  more  than  words  inforce  you 
to  it."  2 

.  Nor  did  Wentworth  serve  Charles  at  this  conjuncture 
with  advice  alone,  for,  by  his  amazing  personal  energy, 
he  forced  down  some  opening  commotions  among  the 
60,000  Scottish  settlers  in  Ulster,  and  not  only  disabled 
them  from  joining  or  assisting   their  countrymen,  but 


See  curious  evidences  of  this  in  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  pp.  221, 
222.  257.  329.  425,  426.  &c.  When  she  had  solicited  an  army 
appointment  for  some  young  courtier,  he  wrote  an  earnest  entreaty 
to  her  chamberlain,  accompanying  his  reasons  for  declining  the  ap- 
pointment: — "If  I  may  by  you  understand  her  majesty's  good 
pleasure,  it  will  be  a  mighty  quietness  unto  me,  for  if  once  these 
places  of  command  in  the  army  become  suits  at  court,  looked  upon 
as  preferments  and  portions  for  younger  children,  the  honour  of  this 
government,  and  consequently  the  prosperity  of  these  affairs,  are 
lost."  The  king  himself  appears  to  have  made  it  a  personal  request 
of  Wentworth,  that  he  should  carry  himself  **with  all  duty  and 
respect  to  her  majesty."  (vol.  ii,  p.  256.) 

1  See  vol.  ii.  pp.  191,  192.  235.  280.  324.  &c. 
.  2  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  314. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  217 

compelled  them  to  abjure  the  covenant.^  Nor  this 
alone.  He  forwarded  from  Ireland  a  detachment  of 
troops  to  garrison  Carlisle ;  he  announced  that  the  army 
of  Ireland  was  in  a  state  of  active  recruitin'^  and  dis- 
cipline ;  he  offered  large  contributions  from  himself  and 
his  friends  towards  the  necessary  expenses  of  resistance ; 
and  by  every  faith  of  loyalty,  and  bond  of  friendship  and 
of  service,  he  called  on  every  man  in  Yorkshire  to  stir 
themselves  in  the  royal  cause.  "  To  be  lazy  lookers  on," 
he  wrote  to  the  lord  Lome,  "to  lean  to  the  king  behind 
the  curtain,  or  to  whisper  forth  only  our  allegiance,  will 
not  serve  our  turn  !  much  rather  ought  we  to  break  our 
shins  in  emulation  who  should  go  soonest  and  furthest, 
in  assurance  and  in  courage,  to  uphold  the  prerogatives 
and  full  dominion  of  the  crown, — ever  remembering  our- 
selves that  nobility  is  such  a  grudged  and  envied  piece 
of  monarchy,  that  all  tumultuary  force  offered  to  kings 
doth  ever  in  the  second  place  fall  upon  the  peers,  being 
such  motes  in  the  eyes  of  a  giddy  multitude,  as  they 
never  believe  themselves  clear  sighted  into  their  liberty 
indeed,  till  these  be  at  least  levelled  to  a  parity  as  the 
other  altogether  removed,  to  give  better  prospect  to  their 
anarchy."  ^ 

The  sluggish  and  irresolute  councils  of  England  looked 
ill  beside  the  movements  of  the  deputy.  The  king  asked 
a  service  from  him,  but  the  instructions  came  too  late. 
"  If  his  majesty's  mind  had  been  known  to  me  in  time," 
he  wrote  to  Vane,  the  treasurer  of  the  household,  "  I 
could  have  as  easily  secured  it  against  all  the  covenanters 
and  devils  in  Scotland,  as  now  walk  up  and  down  this 
chamber.     But  where  trusts  and  instructions  come  too 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  pp.  270.  338.  345. 
2  Ibid.  p.  210. 


2i8  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

late,  there  the  business  is  sure  to  be  lost."     Openly  he 
now  expressed  his  censure  of  the  royal  scheme  that  had 
prevailed  since  the  death  of  Buckingham.     "I  never  was 
in  love  with  that  way  of  keeping  all  the  affairs  of  that 
kingdom  of  Scotland  among  those  of  that  nation,  but 
carried  indeed  as  a  mystery  to  all  the  council  of  England  ; 
a  rule  but  over  much  kept  by  our  master ;  which  I  have 
told  my  lord  of  Portland  many  and  often  a  time,  plainly 
professing  unto  him,  that  I  was  much  afraid  that  course 
would  at  one  time  or  other  bring  forth  ill  effects  ;  what 
those  are,  we  now  see  and  feel  at  one  and  the  same 
instant."      Finally,  when  Vane  had  written  in  an  ex- 
tremely desponding  tone,  he  rallied  him  with  a  noble 
energy.     "  It  is  very  true  you  have  reason  to  think  this 
storm  looks  very  foul  and  dark  towards  us,  so  do  also 
myself,  for  if  the  fire  should  kindle  at  Raby,  I  am  sure 
the  smoke  would  give  offence  to  our  eye-sight  at  Wood- 
house  !  but  I  trust  the  evening  will  prove  more  calm  than 
the  morning  of  this  day  promises.     Dulcius  lumen  soils 
esse  solet  Jam  jam  cadentls.     All  here  is  quiet,  nothing 
colours  yet  to  the  contrary.     And   if  I  may  have  the 
countenance  and  trust  of  my  master,  I   hope,  in  the 
execution  of  such  commands  as  his  majesty's  wisdom 
and  judgment  ordain  for  me,  to  contain  the  Scottish  here 
in  their  due  obedience,  or  if  they  should  stir  (our  8000 
arms  and  twenty  pieces  of  cannon  arrived,  which  I  trust 
now  will  be  very  shortly)  to  give  them  such  a  heat  in 
their  cloaths,  as  they  never  had  since  their  coming  forth 
of  Scotland !     And  yet  our  standing  army  here  is  but 
1000  horse  and   2000  foot,  and  not  fewer  of  them  I  will 
warrant  you  than  150,000,  so  you  see  our  work  is  not 
very  easy.     The  best  of  it  is,  the  brawn  of  a  lark  is  better 
than  the  carcass  of  a  kite,  and  the  virtue  of  one  loyal 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  219 

subject  more  than  of  1000  traitors.     And  is  not  this 
pretty  well,  trow  you,  to  begin  with?"^ 

No  extremity  was  urged  that  found  Wentworth  un- 
prepared. Windebanke  hinted  the  danger  he  incurred. 
"  I  humbly  thank  you,"  he  answered,  "  for  your  friendly 
and  kind  wishes  to  my  safety,  but  if  it  be  the  will  of  God 
to  bring  upon  us  for  our  sins  that  fiery  trial, — all  the 
respects  of  this  life  laid  aside,  it  shall  appear  more  by 
my  actions  than  words,  that  I  can  never  think  myself  too 
good  to  die  for  my  gracious  master,  or  favour  my  skin 
in  the  zealous  and  just  prosecution  of  his  commands. 
Statutum  est  semel."  Another — whom  he  fancied  not 
unwilling  to  thwart  him,  reckoning  upon  safety  from  the 
consequences  in  the  lord  deputy's  certain  destruction — 
he  thus  warned : — "  Perchance  even  to  those  that  shall 
tell  you,  before  their  breath  I  am  but  as  a  feather,  I  shall 
be  found  sadder  than  lead  !  For  let  me  tell  you,  I  am 
so  confidently  set  upon  the  justice  of  my  master,  and 
upon  my  own  truth,  as  under  them  and  God  I  shall  pass 
thorough  all  the  factions  of  court,  and  heat  of  my  ill- 
willers,  without  so  much  as  sindging  the  least  thread  of 
my  coat,  nor  so  alone,  but  to  carry  my  friends  along  with 
me."  And,  in  the  midst  of  the  storms  his  measures 
were  raising  on  all  sides  round  him,  he  found  time  and 
ease  enough  to  amuse  himself  in  tormenting  with  grave 
jests  a  foolish  earl  of  Antrim,  whom  the  king  had  sent  to 
"  assist  "  him.  The  despatches  he  wrote  on  the  subject 
of  the  "  Antrim  negociations  "  are  positive  masterpieces 
of  wit  and   humour.^     At  the  same  time   he  did   not 

1  This  letter  is  dated — **  Fairwood  Park  [the  name  of  his  seat  in 
Wicklow],  this  i6th  of  April,  1639.  I  will  change  it  with  you,  if 
you  will,  for  Fair  Lane." — Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  pp.  325 — 328. 

2  See  the  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  pp.  187.  204.  211.  289.  et  seq. 
300.  et  seq.  321.  etseq.  325.  331.  334.  339.  353.  356.     It  is  not  loo 


2  20  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

hesitate  to  assure  the  king,  that,  but  for  the  safety  of 
Ireland,  he  would  "  be  most  mightily  out  of  countenance, 
to  be  found  in  any  other  place  than  at  his  majesty's 
side  !  " 

Charles  acknowledged  these  vast  services  with  frequent 
letters.  Wentworth  was  now  his  great  hope,  and  he 
found,  at  last,  that  at  all  risks  he  must  have  him  in 
England.  He  had  formerly  declined  his  offered  attend- 
ance, he  now  prayed  for  it.  He  wished,  he  said,  to 
consult  him  respecting  the  army,  "  but  I  have  nmch 
more,"  he  sorrowfully  added,  "  and  indeed  too  much  to 
desire  your  counsel  and  attendance  for  some  time,  which 
I  think  not  fit  to  express  by  letter,  more  than  this, — the 
Scots'  covenant  begins  to  spread  too  far.  Yet,  for  all 
this,  I  will  not  have  you  take  notice  that  I  have  sent  for 
you,  but  pretend  some  other  occasion  of  business." 

Wentworth  instantly  prepared  himself  to  obey.  A 
short  time  only  he  took,  to  place  his  government  in 
the  hands  of  Wandesford,  and  to  arrange  some  of  his 
domestic  concerns.  His  children  were  his  great  care. 
"  God  bless  the  young  whelps,"  he  said,  "  and  for  the 
old  dog  there  is  less  matter."  ^  Lady  Clare,  his  mother- 
in-law,  had  often  requested  to  have  the  elder  girl  with 


much  to  say,  that,  in  reading  these  papers,  the  memory  is  called  to 
the  Swifts  of  past  days,  and  the  Fonblanques  of  our  own.  The  poor 
lord's  pretensions  are  most  ludicrously  set  forth,  and  in  a  vein  of 
exquisite  pleasantry,  but  little  consistent  with  the  popular  notion  of 
Strafford's  unbending  sternness. 

^  See  various  lettei's  in  the  course  of  his  correspondence,  in  which 
the  most  tender  enthusiasm  is  expressed  for  them  and  for  their  dead 
mother,  (vol.  i.  p.  236.  ;  vol,  ii.  pp.  122,  123.  146.  379,  380.)  Nor 
was  his  affection  less  warmly  expressed  to  the  child  of  his  living 
wife.  In  several  affectionate  letters  to  the  latter  he  never  fails  to 
send  his  blessing  to  "the  baby,"  or  to  *•  little  Tom,"  Shortly 
before  this  visit  to  England,  however,  the  latter  died,  — and  shortly 
after  it,  a  girl  was  born. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  221 

her,  and  Wentworth  had  as  often  vainly  tried  to  let  her 
leave  his  side.  His  passion  was  to  see  them  all  near 
him  in  a  group  together,  as  they  may  yet  be  seen  in  the 
undying  colours  of  Vandyke,  from  whose  canvass,  also, 
as  though  it  had  been  painted  yesterday,  the  sternly 
expressive  countenance  of  their  father  still  gazes  at 
posterity.  The  present  was  a  time,  however,  when  the 
sad  alternative  of  a  separation  from  himself  promised 
him  alleviation  even,  and  he  resolved  to  send  both  sisters 
to  their  grandmother.  The  letter  he  despatched  on  the 
occasion  to  the  Lady  Clare  remains,  and  it  is  too  touch- 
ing and  beautiful  to  be  omitted  here.  A  man  so 
burthened  with  the  world's  accusations  as  Strafford, 
should  be  denied  none  of  the  advantage  which  such 
a  document  can  render  to  his  memory.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  direct  attention  to  its  singularly  characteristic 
conclusion : — 

"  My  lord  of  Clare  having  writ  unto  me,  your  ladyship 
desired  to  have  my  daughter  Anne  with  you  for  a  time 
in  England,  to  recover  her  health,  I  have  at  last  been 
able  to  yield  so  much  from  my  own  comfort,  as  to  send 
both  her  and  her  sister  to  wait  your  grave,  wise,  and 
tender  instructions.  They  are  both,  I  praise  God,  in 
good  health,  and  bring  with  them  hence  from  me  no 
other  advice,  but  entirely  and  cheerfully  to  obey  and  do 
all  you  shall  be  pleased  to  command  them,  so  far  forth 
as  their  years  and  understanding  may  administer  unto 
them. 

**  I  was  unwilling  to  part  them,  in  regard  those  that 
must  be  a  stay  one  to  another,  when  by  course  of  nature 
I  am  gone  before  them.  I  would  not  have  them  grow 
strangers  whilst  I  am  living.  Besides,  the  younger 
gladly  imitates  the  elder,  in  disposition  so  like  her  blessed 


222  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

mother,  that  it  pleases  me  very  much  to  see  her  steps 
followed  and  observed  by  the  other. 

"  Madam,  I  must  confess,  it  was  not  without  difficulty 
before  I  could  perswade  myself  thus  to  be  deprived  the 
looking  upon  them,  who  with  their  brother  are  the 
pledges  of  all  the  comfort,  the  greatest  at  least,  of  my 
old  age,  if  it  shall  please  God  I  attain  thereunto.  But 
I  have  been  brought  up  in  afflictions  of  this  kind,  so  as 
I  still  fear  to  have  that  taken  first  that  is  dearest  unto 
me, — and  have  in  this  been  content  willingly  to  over- 
come my  own  affections  in  order  to  their  good,  acknow- 
ledging your  ladyship  capable  of  doing  them  more  good 
in  their  breeding  than  I  am.  Otherways,  in  truth,  I 
should  never  have  parted  with  them,  as  I  profess  it  a 
grief  unto  me,  not  to  be  as  well  able  as  any  to  serve 
the  memory  of  that  noble  lady,  in  these  little  harmless 
infants. 

"  Well,  to  God's  blessing  and  your  ladyship's  goodness 
I  commit  them  !  where-ever  they  are  my  prayers  shall 
attend  them,  and  have  of  sorrow  in  my  heart  till  I  see 
them  again  I  must,  which  I  trust  will  not  be  long  neither. 
That  they  shall  be  acceptable  to  you,  I  know  it  right 
well,  and  I  believe  them  so  graciously  minded  to  render 
themselves  so  the  more,  the  more  you  see  of  their  atten- 
tion to  do  as  you  shall  be  pleased  to  direct  them,  which 
will  be  of  much  contentment  unto  me.  For  whatever 
your  ladyship's  opinion  may  be  of  me,  I  desire,  and 
have  given  it  them  in  charge  (so  far  as  their  tender  years 
are  capable  of),  to  honour  and  observe  your  ladyship 
above  all  the  women  in  the  world,  as  well  knowing  that 
in  so  doing  they  shall  fulfil  that  duty,  whereby  of  all 
others  they  could  have  delighted  their  mother  the  most ; 
— and  I  do  infinitely  wish  they  may  want  nothing  in  their 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  223 

breeding  my  power  or  cost  might  procure  them,  or  their 
condition  of  life  hereafter  may  require,  for,  madam,  if  I 
die  to-morrow,  I  will  by  God's  help  leave  them  ten 
thousand  pounds  apiece,  which  I  trust,  by  God's  blessing, 
shall  bestow  them  to  the  comfort  of  themselves  and 
friends,  nor  at  all  considerably  prejudice  their  brother, 
whose  estate  shall  never  be  much  burthened  by  a  second 
venter,  I  assure  you. 

'•  I  thought  fit  to  send  with  them  one  that  teacheth 
them  to  write ;  he  is  a  quiet  soft  man,  but  honest,  and 
not  given  to  any  disorder;  him  I  have  appointed  to 
account  for  the  money  to  be  laid  forth,  wherein  he  hath 
no  other  direction  but  to  pay  and  lay  forth  as  your 
ladyship  shall  appoint,  and  still  as  he  wants,  to  go  to 
Woodhouse,  where  my  cousin  Rockley  will  supply  him. 
And  I  must  humbly  beseech  you  to  give  order  to  their 
servants,  and  otherwise  to  the  taylors  at  London,  for 
their  apparel,  which  I  wholly  submit  to  your  ladyship's 
better  judgment,  and  be  it  what  it  may  be,  I  shall  think 
it  all  happily  bestowed,  so  as  it  be  to  your  contentment 
and  theirs,  for  cost  I  reckon  not  of,  and  any  thing  I 
have  is  theirs  so  long  as  I  live,  which  is  only  worth 
thanks,  for  theirs  and  their  brothers  all  I  have  must  be 
whether  I  will  or  no,  and  therefore  I  desire  to  let  them 
have  to  acknowledge  me  for  before. 

"  Nan,  they  tell  me,  danceth  prettily,  which  I  wish  (if 
with  convenience  it  might  be)  were  not  lost, — more  to 
give  her  a  comely  grace  in  the  carriage  of  her  body,  than 
that  I  wish  they  should  much  delight  or  practise  it  when 
they  are  women.  Arabella  is  a  small  practitioner  that 
way  also,  and  they  are  both  very  apt  to  learn  that  or  any 
thing  they  are  taught. 

"Nan,  I  think,  speaks  French  prettily,  which  yet  I 


224 


BROIVNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


might  have  been  better  able  to  judge  had  her  mother 
lived.  The  other  also  speaks,  but  her  maid  being  of 
Guernsey,  the  accent  is  not  good.  But  your  ladyship  is 
in  this  excellent,  as  that,  as  indeed  all  things  else  which 
may  befit  them,  they  may,  and  I  hope  will,  learn  better 
with  your  ladyship  than  they  can  with  their  poor  father, 
ignorant  in  what  belongs  women,  and  otherways,  God 
knows,  distracted,  and  so  awanting  unto  them  in  all, 
saving  in  loving  them,  and  therein,  in  truth,  I  shall  never 
be  less  than  the  dearest  parent  in  the  world ! 

"  Their  brother  is  just  now  sitting  at  my  elbow,  in 
good  health,  God  be  praised  ;  and  I  am  in  the  best  sort 
accommodating  this  place  for  him,  which,  in  the  kind, 
I  take  to  be  the  noblest  one  of  them  in  the  king's 
dominions,  and  where  a  grass  time  may  be  passed  with 
most  pleasure  of  that  kind.  I  will  build  him  a  good 
house,  and  by  God's  help,  leave,  I  think,  near  three 
thousand  pounds  a  year,  and  wood  on  the  ground,  as 
much,  I  dare  say,  if  near  London,  as  would  yield  fifty 
thousand  pounds,  besides  a  house  within  twelve  miles  of 
Dublin,  the  best  in  Ireland,  and  land  to  it  which,  I  hope, 
will  be  two  thousand  pounds  a  year, — all  which  he  shall 
have  to  the  rest,  had  I  twenty  brothers  of  his  to  sitt 
beside  me.  This  I  write  not  to  your  ladyship  in  vanity, 
or  to  have  it  spoken  of,  but  privately,  to  let  your  lady- 
ship see  I  do  not  forget  the  children  of  my  dearest  wife, 
nor  altogether  bestow  my  time  fruitlessly  for  them.  It 
is  true  I  am  in  debt,  but  there  will  be,  besides,  sufficient 
to  discharge  all  I  owe,  by  God's  grace,  whether  I  live  or 
die.  And  next  to  these  children,  there  are  not  any  other 
persons  I  wish  more  happiness  than  to  the  house  of  their 
grandfather,  and  shall  be  always  most  ready  to  serve 
them,  what  opinion  soever  be  had  of  me,  for  no  others 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


225 


usage  can  absolve  me  of  what  I  owe  not  only  to  the 
memory,  but  to  the  last  legacy,  that  noble  creature  left 
with  me,  when  God  took  her  to  himself.  I  am  afraid  to 
turn  over  the  leaf,  lest  your  ladyship  might  think  I  could 
never  come  to  a  conclusion ;  and  shall,  therefore,"  &c. 

He  had  arranged  everything  for  his  departure,  when 
one  of  his  paroxysms  of  illness  seized  him.  He  wrestled 
with  it  desperately,  and  set  sail.  On  landing  at  Chester 
he  wrote  to  lady  Wentworth  a  sad  description  of  the 
effects  of  the  journey  upon  his  gout,  and  the  "flux," 
which  afflicted  him.  He  rallied,  however,  and  appeared 
in  London  in  November,  1639.  In  a  memorable  passage, 
the  historian  May  has  described  the  general  conversation 
a-nd  conjecture  which  had  prepared  for  his  approach. 
Some,  he  says,  remembering  his  early  exertions  in  the 
cause  of  the  people,  fondly  imagined  that  he  had  hitherto 
been  subservient  to  the  court,  only  to  ingratiate  himself 
thoroughly  with  the  king,  and  that  he  would  now  employ 
his  ascendancy  to  wean  his  majesty  from  arbitrary 
counsels.  Others,  who  knew  his  character  more  pro- 
foundly, had  different  thoughts,  and  secretly  cherished 
their  own  most  active  energies. 

Wentworth,  Laud,  and  Hamilton,  instantly  formed  a 
secret  council — a  "cabinet  council,"  as  ihey  were  then 
enviously  named  by  the  other  courtiers — a  "junto,"  as 
the  people  reproachfully  called  them.  The  nature  of 
the  measures  to  be  taken  against  the  Scots  was  variously 
and  earnestly  discussed,  and  Wentworth,  considering  the 
extremity  of  affairs,  declared  at  once  for  war. 

Supplies  to  carry  it  on  formed  a  more  difficult  question 
still,  but  it  sank  before  Wentworth's  energy.  He  pro- 
posed a  loan, — subscribed  to  it  at  once,  by  way  of 
example,  the  enormous  sum  of  20,000/., — and  pledged 

Q 


^26  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

himself  to  bring  over  a  large  subsidy  from  Ireland  if 
the  king  would  call  a  parliament  there.  Encouraged 
by  this  assurance,  it  was  resolved  to  cail  a  parliament 
in  England  also.  Laud,  Juxon,  Hamilton,  Went  worth, 
Cottington,  Vane,  and  Windebanke,  were  all  present  in 
council  when  this  resolution  was  taken.  The  king  then 
put  the  question  to  them  whether,  upon  the  restiveness 
of  parliament,  they  would  assist  him  "  by  extraordinary 
ways."  They  assented,  passed  a  vote  to  that  effect, 
writs  for  parliaments  in  both  countries  were  issued,  and 
Wentworth  prepared  himself  to  quit  England. 

Charles,  unsolicited,  now  invested  him  with  the  dignity 
of  earldom.  His  own  very  existence  seemed  dependent 
on  Wentworth's  faith,  and  there  was  sufficient  weakness 
in  the  character  of  the  king  to  render  it  possible  for  him 
to  suppose  that,  even  at  such  a  time,  the  inducement  of 
reward  might  be  necessary  as  a  precaution.  The  lord 
deputy  was  created  earl  of  StVafford  and  baron  of  Raby, 
adorned  with  the  garter,  and  invested  with  the  title  of 
lord-lieutenant,  or  Heutenant-general,  of  Ireland — a  title 
which  had  not  been  given  since  the  days  of  Essex. 
''  God  willing,"  wrote  Strafford  to  his  wife  immediately 
after,  "  you  will  soon  see  the  lieutenant  of  Ireland,  but 
never  like  to  have  a  deputy  of  Ireland  to  your  husband 
any  more."  ^ 

On  his  way  to  Ireland,  the  earl  was  overtaken,  at 
Beaumaris,  by  a  severe  attack  of  gout,  yet,  still  able  to 
move,  he  hurried  on  board,  notwithstanding  the  contrary 

1  Letter  in  the  Thoresby  Museum,  Biog.  Brit.  vol.  vii.  p.  4182. 
Some  days  before  he  had  written  to  her  characteristic  news  of  his 
children.  "The  two  wenches,"  he  said,  "are  in  perfect  health,  and 
now  at  this  instant  in  this  house,  lodged  with  me,  and  rather  desirous 
to  be  so  than  with  their  grandmother.  I  am  not  yet  fully  resolved 
what  to  do  with  them."  They  were  afterwards  sent  back  to  lady 
Clare,  till  the  lady  Strafford  arrived  in  London. 


BROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  227 

winds,  lest  he  should  be  thrown  down  utterly.  He  wrote 
at  the  same  time  to  secretary  Cooke,  in  the  highest 
spirits,  to  assure  him  and  his  master  that  they  need  not 
fear  for  his  weakness.  "  For,"  exclaims  the  lord-lieu- 
tenant, "  I  will  make  strange  shift,  and  put  myself  to 
all  the  pain  I  shall  be  able  to  endure,  before  I  be  any 
where  awanting  to  my  master  or  his  affairs  in  this  con- 
juncture, and,  therefore,  sound  or  lame,  you  shall  have 
me  with  you  before  the  beginning  of  the  parliament.  I 
should  not  fail,  though  sir  John  Eliot  were  living ! 
In  the  mean  space,  for  love  of  Christ,  call  upon  and 
hasten  the  business  now  in  hand,  especially  the  raising 
of  the  horse  and  all  together,  the  rather,  for  that  this 
work  now  before  us,  should  it  miscarry,  we  all  are  like  to 
be  very  miserable, — but,  carried  through  advisedly  and 
gallantly,  shall  by  God's  blessing  set  us  in  safety  and 
peace  for  our  lives  at  after,  nay,  in  probability,  the 
generations  that  are  to  succeed  us.  Fi  afaute  de  courage^ 
je  n'en  aye  que  trop !  What  might  I  be  with  my  legs, 
that  am  so  brave  without  the  use  of  them  ?  Well,  halt, 
blind,  or  lame,  I  will  be  found  true  to  the  person  of  my 
gracious  master,  to  the  service  of  his  crown  and  my 
friends."  Strange  that,  at  such  a  moment,  lord  Strafford 
should  have  recalled  the  memory  of  the  virtuous  and 
indomitable  Eliot  !  He  was  soon  doomed  to  know 
on  whose  shoulders  the  mantle  of  Buckingham's  great 
opponent  had  fallen. 

In  March,  1640,  Strafford  again  arrived  in  Ireland. 
The  members  of  the  parHament  that  had  just  been 
summoned,  crowded  round  him  with  lavish  devotion, 
gave  him  four  subsidies,  which  was  all  that  he  had 
desired,  and  declared  that  that  was  nothing  in  respect 
to  their  zeal,  for  that  "  his  majesty  should  have  the  fee 


228  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

simple  of  their  estates  for  his  great  occasions."  In  a 
formal  declaration,  moreover,  they  embodied  all  this, 
declared  that  their  present  warm  loyalty  rose  from  a 
deep  sense  of  the  inestimable  benefits  the  lord-lieutenant 
had  conferred  upon  their  country,  and  that  all  these 
benefits  had  been  effected  "  without  the  least  hurt  or 
grievance  to  any  well-disposed  subject."  ^  The  authors 
of  this  declaration  were  the  first  to  turn  upon  Strafford 
in  his  distress.  Valuing  their  praise  for  its  worth  in  the 
way  of  example,  the  earl  forwarded  it  to  England,  and 
requested  it  to  be  published  to  the  empire. 

He  had  now  been  a  fortnight  in  Ireland.  Within  that 
time,  with  a  diligence  unparalleled  and  almost  incredible, 
he  had  effected  these  results  with  the  parliament,  and 
levied  a  body  of  8000  men  as  a  reinforcement  to  the 
royal  army.^     He  again  set  sail  for  England. 

I  pause  here  to  illustrate  the  character  of  this  extra- 
ordinary person  in  one  respect,  which  circumstances  are 
soon  to  make  essential.  His  infirmities  of  health  have 
frequently  been  alluded  to,  but  they  come  now  upon  the 
scene  more  fatally.  No  one,  that  has  not  carefully  ex- 
amined all  his  despatches,  can  have  any  notion  of  their 
frightful  nature  and  extent. 

The  soul  of  the  earl  of  Strafford  was  indeed  lodged, 
to  use  the  expression  of  his  favourite  Donne,  within  a 
"  low  and  fatal  room."  We  have  already  seen  his  friend, 
Radclifife,  informing  us,  that  in  1622  "he  had  a  great 
fever,  and  the  next  spring  a  double  tertian,  and  after  his 
recovery  a  relapse  into  a  single  tertian,  and  a  while  after 
a  burning  fever."    It  is  melancholy  to  follow  the  progress 

^  See  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  pp.  396,  397.     Rushworth,  vol. 
iii.  p.  105 1.     Nalson,  vol.  i,  p.  280—284. 
^  See  Radcliffe's  Essay. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  229 

of  his  infirmities  as  they  are  casually  recorded  by  him- 
self!— How  the  trouble  of  *'an  humour,  which  in  strict 
acceptation  you  might  term  the  gout,"  soon  increases  to 
*'  an  extreme  fit,  which  renders  him  unfit,  not  only  for 
business,  but  for  all  handsome  civility,"  and  is  aggravated 
by  "  so  violent  a  fit  of  the  stone,  as  I  shall  not  be  able 
to  stir  these  ten  days — it  hath  brought  me  very  low,  and 
was  unto  me  a  torment  for  three  days  and  three  nights 
above  all  I  ever  endured  since  I  was  a  man  ! " — How 
the  eyes  that  are  "these  twelve  days  full  of  dimness," 
ere  long  are  "  scarce  able  to  guide  his  pen  thorough 
bUndness  with  long  writing ; " — and  this,  too,  while  '*  an 
infirmity  I  have  formerly  had  in  great  measure,  saluteth 
me,  to  wit,  an  intermitting  pulse,  attended  with  faint 
sweats  and  heaviness  of  spirits  !  " 

But  ever  by  the  side  of  the  body's  weakness  we  find 
a  witness  of  the  spirit's  triumph, — a  vindication  of  the 
mightiness  of  will !  A  lengthened  despatch  to  the 
secretary  is  begun  in  "a  fit  of  the  gout  which,  keeping 
me  still  in  bed,  partly  with  pain  and  partly  with  weari- 
ness, makes  me  unfit  for  much  business." — When  he 
intreats  a  correspondent  to  "  to  pardon  my  scribbling, 
for  since  the  gout  took  me  I  am  not  able  to  write  but 
with  both  my  legs  along  upon  a  stool,  believe  me,  which 
is  not  only  wearisome  in  itself,  but  a  posture  very  un- 
toward for  guiding  my  pen  aright," — it  is  with  the 
consolation  that  "  as  sir  Walter  Raleigh  said  very  well, 
so  the  heart  lie  right,  it  skills  not  much  for  all  the  rest." 
— And  the  advice  to  "  forbear  his  night  watches,  and 
now  begin  to  take  more  care  of  his  health,"  is  met  by 
the  assurance  that,  "  had  he  fivescore  senses  to  lose,  he 
did  and  ought  to  judge  them  all  well  and  happily 
bestowed  in  his  majesty's  service ! " 


23©  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

On  the  occasion  of  this  last  return  to  England,  how- 
ever, even  what  has  been  described  would  serve  little  to 
express  what  he  suffered.  Then,  when  every  energy  was 
to  be  taxed  to  the  uttermost,  the  question  of  his  fiery 
spirit's  supremacy  was  indeed  put  to  the  issue,  by  a 
complication  of  ghastly  diseases  !  In  the  letter  from 
Dublin,  dated  Good  Friday,  1640,  which  assures  the 
king  that  "  from  this  table  I  shall  go  on  ship  board,"  he 
is  compelled  to  add  that,  "  besides  my  gout,  I  have  a 
very  violent  and  ill-conditioned  flux  upon  me,  such  as  I 
never  had  before.  It  hath  held  me  already  these  seven 
days,  and  brought  me  so  weak,  as  in  good  faith  nothing 
that  could  concern  myself  should  make  me  go  a  mile 
forth  of  my  chamber.  But  this  is  not  a  season  for 
bemoaning  of  myself^  for  I  shall  cheerfully  venture  this 
crazed  vessel  of  mine,  and  either^  by  God's  help,  wait  upon 
your  majesty  before  the  parliament  begin, — or  else  deposit 
this  infirm  humanity  of  mine  in  the  dust !  "  And  "  from 
the  table,"  on  "  ship  board,"  he  went  accordingly,  and 
arrived  at  Chester  on  the  4th  of  April,  quite  broken 
down  by  the  fatigues  of  a  rough  voyage.  "  I  confess," 
he  writes,  "  that  I  forced  the  captain  to  sea  against  his 
will,  and  have  since  received  my  correction  for  it.  A 
marvellous  foul  and  dangerous  night,  indeed,  we  have 
had  of  it ! "  In  this  state  he  despatches  the  following 
letter  to  the  king  : — "  May  it  please  your  sacred  majesty, 
— With  some  danger  I  wrought  thorough  a  storm  at  sea, 
yet  light  on  a  greater  misfortune  here  in  harbour,  having 
now  got  the  gout  in  both  my  feet,  attended  with  that  ill 
habit  of  health  I  brought  from  Dublin.  I  purposed  to 
have  been  on  my  way  again  early  this  morning,  but  the 
physician  disadviseth  it;  and  in  truth  such  is  my  pain 
and  weakness,  as  I  verily  believe  I  were  not  able  to 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD,  231 

endure  it.  Nevertheless,  I  have  provided  myself  of  a 
litter,  and  will  try  to-morrow  how  I  am  able  to  bear 
travel,  which  if  possible  I  can  do,  then  by  the  grace  of 
God  will  I  not  rest  till  I  have  the  honour  to  wait  upon 
your  majesty.  In  the  mean  time  it  is  most  grievous  unto 
me  to  be  thus  kept  from  those  duties  which  I  owe  your 
majesty's  service  on  this  great  and  important  occasion. 
In  truth,  sir,  in  my  whole  life  I  never  desired  health 
more  than  now,  if  it  shall  so  please  God, — not  that  I  can 
be  so  vain  as  to  judge  myself  equally  considerable  with 
many  other  of  your  servants,  but  that  I  might  give  my 
own  heart  the  contentment  to  be  near  your  commands, 
in  case  I  might  be  so  happy  as  to  be  of  some  small  use 
to  my  most  gracious  master  in  such  a  conjuncture  of 
time  and  affairs  as  this  is.  God  long  preserve  your 
majesty.'' 

Next,  he  dictates  a  long  despatch  to  the  earl  of 
Northumberland,  and  attempts,  at  least,  to  conclude  it 
with  his  own  hand : — "  and  yet  howbeit,  I  am  much 
resolved  and  set  on  all  occasions  for  your  service,  will 
my  weary  hand  be  able  to  carry  on  my  pen  not  one 
Ime  further,  than  only  in  a  word  to  write  myself,  in  all 
truth  and  perfection,  your  lordship's  most  humbly  to  be 
commanded,  Strafford." 

I  quote  also  from  this  despatch  to  Northumberland  an 
extraordinary  incident  which  occurred  on  this  occasion, 
and  which  illustrates  his  unremitting  vigilance  in  matters 
which  he  could  hardly  have  been  expected  to  superintend 
even  under  far  more  favourable  circumstances.  "  Upon 
my  landing  at  Nesson  I  observed  a  Scottish  ship  there 
riding  upon  her  anchors,  of  some  six  or  sevenscore  ton, 
and  of  some  eight  or  ten  pieces  of  ordnance,  and  here  in 
town  I  learn  that  the  ship  belongs  to  Irwin,  that  sh*"  was 


232  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

fraught  by  some  merchants  here  with  sacks,  and  that  the 
master  now  in  town,  is  this  morning  to  receive  some 
600/.  for  freight.  Hereupon,  considering  the  day  for  the 
general  imbargo  is  so  instant,  as  your  lordship  knows,  I 
have  privately  advised  the  merchants  to  stay  payment  of 
the  freight  until  to-morrow,  and  will  give  present  direction 
for  the  apprehension  of  the  master  and  his  mate,  now  in 
town.  I  have  also  spoken  to  the  customers  to  send 
down  to  Nesson  to  arrest  the  said  ship  upon  pretence  of 
cozening  the  king  in  his  customs,  for  which  the  master  is 
to  be  examined,  and,  however,  the  ship  to  be  fraught  for 
the  king's  service  for  the  transportation  of  these  men.  I 
have  likewise  given  command  to  captain  Bartlett  pre- 
sently to  repair  thither,  to  be  assistant  therein  to  the 
ofhcers  of  the  customs,  and  before  his  leaving  the  port 
to  see  execution  of  all  this,  as  also  to  take  forth  of  her, 
all  her  Scottish  mariners,  her  sails  and  guns,  and  to 
bring  them  on  shore,  leaving  only  aboard  such  English 
mariners  as  shall  be  sufficient  to  send  the  ship  there,  till 
further  directions.  Thus  will  she  lye  fair  and  open  for 
your  arrest,  and  perchance  prove  your  best  prize  of  that 
kind,  and  really  being  manned  with  English  mariners, 
which  may  be  pressed  for  that  occasion,  be  of  all  other 
the  fittest  vessel  for  the  transportation  of  your  men  and 
ammunition  to  Dunbarton.  If  I  have  been  over  diligent 
herein,  in  doing  more  than  (I  confess)  I  have  commission 
for,  I  humbly  crave  your  lordship's  pardon,  and  hope 
the  rather  to  obtain  it,  in  regard  it  is  a  fault  easily 
mended, — for  my  honest  blue-cap  will  be  hereby  so 
affrighted,  as  the  delivery  back  unto  him  of  his  freight, 
goods  and  ship,  will  sufficiently  fulfil  his  desires  and 
contentment." 

A  letter  written  the  following  day  to  Windebanke  is. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  233 

most  eminently  characteristic  : — "  I  thank  you,"  he  says, 
"  for  your  good  wishes,  that  I  might  be  free  of  the  gout ; 
but  a  deaf  spirit  I  find  it,  that  will  neither  hear  nor  be 
persuaded  to  reason.     My  pain,  I  thank  God,  is  gone, 
yet  I  am  not  able  to  walk  once  about  the  chamber,  such 
a  weakness   hath   it  left  behind.     Nevertheless  my  ob- 
stinacy is  as  great  as  formerly,  for  it  shall  have  much 
more  to  do  before  it  make  me  leave  my  station  in  these 
uncertain  times.     Of  all  things  I  love  not  to  put  off  my 
cloaths  and  go  to  bed  in  a  storm.     The  lieutenant,"  he 
proceeds,   "  that  made  the   false  muster,  cannot   be  too 
severely  punished.    If  you  purpose  to  overcome  that  evil, 
you  must  fall  upon  the  first  transgressors  like  lightning  !  " 
Beside  such   zealousness  as  Strafford's,  the  devotion 
of  others  was  like  to   come  tardily  off.     The  letter  to 
Windebanke    proceeds : — "  The    proxies    of    the    Irish 
nobility  1  have  received  and  transmitted  over.     I  cannot 
but  observe  how  cautious  still  your  great  friend,  my  lord 
of  St.  Alban's,  is,  lest  he  might   seem  to  express   his 
affections  towards  the  king  with  too  much  frankness  and 
confidence.     Lord !  how  willing  he  is,  by  doing  some- 
thing, as  good  as  nothing,  to  let  you  see  how  well  con- 
tented he  would  be  to  deserve  the  crown,  if  it  were  in 
his  power,  as  indeed  it  is  not.     But  if  his  good  lordship 
and  his  fellows  were  left  to  my  handhng,  I  should  quickly 
teach  them  better  duties,  and  put  them  out  of  liking  with 
these  perverse  froward  humours.     But  the  best  is,  by  the 
good  help  of  his  friends,  he  need  not  apprehend  the  short 
horns  of  such  a  curst  cow  as  myself, — yet  this  I  will  say 
for  him,  all  your  kindness  shall  not  better  his  affections 
to  the  service  of  the  crown,  or  render  him  thankful  to 
yourselves  longer  than  his  turn  is  in  serving.     Remember, 
sir,  that  I  told  you  of  it.     The  lord  Roch  is  a  person  ia 


234  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

a  lesser  volume,  of  the  very  self-same  edition.  Poor 
soul,  you  see  what  he  would  be  at,  if  he  knew  how.  But 
seriously  let  me  ask  you  a  question,  What  would  these 
and  such  like  gentlemen  do,  were  they  absolute  in  them- 
selves, when  they  are  thus  forward  at  that  very  instant  of 
time,  when  their  whole  estates  are  justly  and  fairly  in  the 
king's  mercy  ?  In  a  word,  'till  I  see  punishments  and 
rewards  well  and  roundly  applied,  I  fear  very  much  the 
frovvardness  of  this  generation  will  not  be  reduced  to 
moderation  and  right  reason,  but  that  it  shall  extreamly 
much  difficult  his  majesty's  ministers,  nay,  and  himself 
too,  in  the  pursuit  of  his  just  and  royal  designs." 

Mr.  Brodie  has  accused  Strafford's  despatches  of 
heaviness,  and  certainly  every  word  in  them  has  its 
weight.  This  extraordinary  letter  concludes  thus : — 
"  It  troubles  me  very  much  to  understand  by  these  your 
letters,  that  the  deputy  lieutenants  of  Yorkshire  should 
shew  themselves  so  foolish  and  so  ingrate  as  to  refuse 
to  levy  200  men  and  send  them  to  Berwick,  without  a 
caution  of  reimbursement  of  coat  and  conduct  money. 
As  for  the  precedent  they  alledge,  they  well  term  them  to 
be  indeed  of  former  times,  for  sure  I  am  none  of  them 
can  remember  any  such  thing  of  their  own  knowledge, 
or  have  learnt  any  such  thing  by  their  own  practice. 
What  they  find  in  some  bUnd  book  of  their  fathers  kept 
by  his  clerk,  I  know  not,  but  some  such  poor  business  is 
the  best  proof  I  believe  they  can  shew  for  that  allegation. 
Perchance  queen  Elizabeth  now  and  then  did  some  such 
thing ;  but  then  it  ought  to  be  taken  as  matter  of  bounty, 
not  of  duty,  the  law  being  so  clear  and  plain  in  that 
point,  as  you  know.  Upon  my  coming  to  town  I  will 
inform  myself  who  have  been  the  chief  leaders  in  this 
business,  and  thereupon  give  my  gentlemen  something 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


235 


to  remember  it  by  hereafter.  But,  above  all,  I  cannot 
sufficiently  wonder  that  my  lords  at  the  board  should 
think  of  any  other  satisfaction  than  sending  for  them  up, 
and  laying  them  by  the  heels,  especially  considering 
what  hath  been  already  resolved  on  there  amongst  us. 
What,  I  beseech  you,  should  become  of  the  levy  of  your 
30,000  men*  in  case  the  other  counties  of  the  kingdom 
should  return  you  the  like  answer  ?  And  therefore  this 
insolence  of  theirs  ought,  in  my  poor  opinion,  to  have 
been  suffocated  in  the  birth,  and  this  boldness  met  with 
a  courage,  which  should  have  taught  them  their  part  in 
these  cases  to  have  been  obedience,  and  not  dispute. 
Certain  I  am,  that  in  queen  Elizabeth's  time  (those 
golden  times  that  appear  so  glorious  in  their  eyes,  and 
render  them  dazzled  towards  any  other  object),  they 
would  not  have  had  such  an  expostulation  better  cheap 
than  the  fleet.  The  very  plain  truth  is,  and  I  beseech 
you  that  it  may  humbly  on  my  part  be  represented  to  his 
majesty  in  discharge  of  my  own  duty,  that  the  council- 
board  of  late  years  have  gone  with  so  tender  a  foot  in 
those  businesses  of  lieutenancy,  that  it  hath  almost  lost 
that  power  to  the  crown ;  and  yet  such  a  power  it  is,  and 
so  necessary,  as  I  do  not  know  how  we  should  be  able 
either  to  correct  a  rebellion  at  home,  or  to  defend  our- 
selves from  an  invasion  from  abroad,  without  it.  All 
which,  nevertheless,  I  mention  with  all  humility  in  the 
world,  without  the  least  imputation  to  any  particular 
person  living  or  dead,  and  humbly  beseech  his  majesty 
to  cause  the  reins  of  this  piece  of  his  government  to  be 
strongly  gathered  up  again,  which  have  of  late  hung  too 
long  loose  upon  us  his  lieutenants  and  deputy  lieutenants 
within  the  kingdom." 

Notwithstanding  his  desperate  state,  Strafford  caused 


236  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

himself  to  be  pushed  on  to  London.  A  desire  of  the 
king  that  he  should  not  hazard  the  journey,  reached  him 
already  engaged  in  it.^  He  persisted  in  being  trans- 
ported thither  in  a  litter  by  easy  journeys.  In  London 
a  greater  and  final  occasion  was  yet  to  be  afforded  him, 
for  the  display  of  an  indomitable  nature  triumphantly 
baffling  disease  and  decay,  and  still,  with  the  increasing 
and  imperious  urgency  of  the  need,  towered  ever  proudher 
the  inexhaustible  genius  of  Strafford. 

The  parliament  had  met,  and  the  earl  immediately 
took  his  seat  in  the  house  of  lords.  Their  proceedings, 
and  their  abrupt  dissolution,  belong  to  history.  After 
that  fatal  state  error,  an  army,  to  the  command  of  which 
Northumberland  had  been  appointed,  was  marched 
against  the  Scots.  Severe  illness,  however,  held  North- 
umberland to  his  bed,  and  the  king  resolved  to  appoint 
Strafford  in  his  place.  "  The  earl  of  Strafford,"  observes 
Clarendon,  "  was  scarce  recovered  from  a  great  sickness, 
yet  was  willing  to  undertake  the  charge  out  of  pure 
indignation  to  see  how  few  men  were  forward  to  serve 
the  king  with  that  vigour  of  mind  they  ought  to  do ;  but 
knowing  well  the  malicious  designs  which  were  contrived 
against  himself,  he  would  rather  serve  as  lieutenant- 
general  under  the  earl  of  Northumberland,  than  that  he 

^  It  is  worth  quoting  as  almost  the  only  expression  of  care  and 
sympathy  Charles  had  hitherto  given  to  his  minister.  "Having 
seen  divers  letters,  Strafford,  to  my  lord  of  Canterbury,  congerning 
the  state  of  your  health  at  this  time,  I  thought  it  necessary  by  this 
to  command  you,  not  to  hazard  to  travel  before  ye  may  do  it  with 
the  safety  of  your  health,  and  in  this  I  must  require  you  not  to  be 
your  own  judge,  but  be  content  to  follow  the  advice  of  those  that 
are  about  you,  whose  affections  and  skill  ye  shall  have  occasion  to 
trust  unto.  If  I  did  not  know  that  this  care  of  your  health  were 
necessary  for  us  both  at  this  time,  X  woidd  have  deferred  my  thanks 
to  you  for  your  great  service  lately  done,  until  I  might  have  seen 
you.  So  praying  to  God  for  your  speedy  recovery,  I  rest  your 
assured  friend." 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  237 

should  resign  his  commission :  and  so,  with  and  under 
that  qualification,  he  made  all  possible  haste  towards  the 
north  before  he  had  strength  enough  for  the  journey."^ 
The  same  noble  historian,  after  saying  that  Strafford 
could  with  difficulty,  in  consequence  of  illness,  sit  in  his 
saddle,  describes  the  shock  he  experienced  in  receiving 
intelligence  of  the  disgraceful  flight  of  a  portion  of  the 
king's  troops  at  Newbourne  on  the  Tyne,  and  proceeds 
thus  : — "  In  this  posture  the  earl  of  Strafford  found  the 
army  about  Durham,  bringing  with  him  a  body  much 
broken  with  his  late  sickness,  which  was  not  clearly 
shaken  off,  and  a  mind  and  temper  confessing  the  dregs 
of  it,  which,  being  marvellously  provoked  and  inflamed 
with  indignation  at  the  late  dishonour,  rendered  him  less 
gracious,  that  is,  less  inclined  to  make  himself  so,  to  the 
officers  upon  his  first  entrance  into  his  charge :  it  may 
be,  in  that  mass  of  disorder  not  quickly  discerning  to 
whom  kindness  and  respect  was  justly  due.  But  those 
who  by  this  time  no  doubt  were  retained  for  that  purpose, 
took  that  opportunity  to  incense  the  army  against  him, 
and  so  far  prevailed  in  it,  that  in  a  short  time  it  was 
more  inflamed  against  him  than  against  the  enemy."  ^ 
In  this  melancholy  state,  with  a  disgraced  and  mutinous 
force,  Strafford  fell  back  upon  York. 

From  this  moment  he  sank  daily.  Intrigues  of  the 
most  disgraceful  character,  carried  on  by  Holland, 
Hamilton,  and  Vane,  and  assisted  every  way  by  the 
queen,  united  with  his  sickness  to  break  him  down. 
Still  he  was  making  desperate  efforts  to  strengthen  and 
animate  his  army,  when  suddenly  he  found  that  a  treaty 
with  the  Scots  had  actually  commenced,  and  that  his 
especial  enemy,  lord  Savile,  was  actively  employed  to 
^  History,  vol.  i.  p.  1 14.  ^  Vol.  i.  p.  115, 


238  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

forward  it.  Ultimately,  these  negotiations  were  placed 
in  the  hands  of  sixteen  peers,  every  one  of  whom  w^re 
his  personal  opponents.  And  the  crowing  enemy  was 
behind, — "an  enemy,"  as  lord  Clarendon  observes, 
"  more  terrible  than  all  the  others,  and  like  to  be  more 
fatal,  the  whole  Scottish  nation,  provoked  by  the  declara- 
tion he  had  procured  of  Ireland,  and  some  high  carriage 
and  expressions  of  his  against  them  in  that  kingdom."  1 
They  illustrated  this  eminent  hatred,  by  peremptorily 
refusing,  in  the  midst  of  much  profession  of  attachment 
to  the  king  and  the  English  nation,  to  hold  any  confer- 
ences at  York,  because  it  was  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
him  whom  they  called  that  "  chief  incendiary,"  their 
"mortal  foe,"  the  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland. 

In  this  there  was  exaggeration.  Notwithstanding  the 
assertions  of  nearly  all  the  histories,  that  Strafford's 
continual  counsel  to  Charles  was  to  rely  on  arms  alone, 
it  is  quite  certain,  from  the  minutes  of  the  council  of 
peers  at  York  2,  that  this  is  erroneous.  When  he  sent 
the  commission  to  Ormond  to  bring  over  his  own  army 
of  20,000  men  from  Ireland,  the  negotiations  had  not 
been  resumed,  and,  on  the  resumption   of  them,  that 


1  The  hatred  was,  indeed,  mutual.  Strafford  more  than  once,  in 
his  despatches,  shows  that  he  even  disliked,  and  was  disposed  to 
turn  into  ridicule,  their  mode  of  speech.  Alluding  to  a  Scotchman, 
for  instance,  a  Mr.  Bane,  whom  he  supposed  to  have  been  favoured 
by  the  court  intriguers  against  him,  he  writes  from  Ireland  thus  : — 
"Then  on  that  side  he  procures,  by  some  very  near  his  majesty, 
access  to  the  king,  there  whispering  continually  something  or 
another  to  my  prejudice  ;  boasts  familiarly,  how  freely  he  speaks 
with  his  majesty,  what  he  saith  concerning  me,  and  nou'ant  pleese 
your  jnejesty  ea  werde  mare  anent  your  debuty  of  Yrland,  with  many 
such  like  botadoes,  stuffed  with  a  mighty  deal  of  untruths  and  follies 
amongst."     And  see  Rush  worth,  vol.  iii.  p.  1293. 

^  Printed  in  the  Hardv\icke  State  Papers.  And  see  a  very  able 
and  impartial  view  of  Strafford's  conduct  and  character,  in  the 
History  continued  from  Mackintosh. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  239 

commission  was  withdrawn.  Now,  however,  thwarted 
and  exasperated  on  all  sides,  he  resolved  to  furnish  one 
more  proof  (it  was  destined  to  be  the  last !)  of  the 
possibility  of  recovering  the  royal  authority,  by  a  great 
and  vigorous  exertion.  During  the  negotiations  no 
actual  cessation  of  arms  had  been  agreed  to  by  the 
Scots,  and  he  therefore  secretly  despatched  a  party  of 
horse,  under  a  favourite  officer,  to  attack  them  in  their 
quarters.  A  large  body  of  the  enemy  were  defeated  by 
this  manoeuvre,  all  their  officers  taken  prisoners,  the  army 
inspirited,  and  the  spirits  of  Strafford  himself  restored. 
Again  he  spoke  confidently  of  the  future,  when  suddenly 
the  king,  prevailed  on  by  others,  commanded  him  to 
forbear.  In  the  same  moment,  without  any  previous 
warning,  he  was  told  that  a  parliament  was  summoned. 

Strafford  saw  at  once  the  extent  of  his  danger.  He 
had  thrown  his  last  stake  and  lost  it.  He  prayed  of  the 
king  to  be  allowed  to  retire  to  his  government  in  Ireland, 
or  to  some  other  place,  where  he  might  promote  his 
majesty's  service,  and  not  deliver  himself  into  the  hands 
of  his  enraged  enemies.  Charles  refused.  He  still 
reposed  on  the  enormous  value  of  his  minister's  genius, 
and  considered  that  no  sacrifice  too  great  might  be 
incurred,  for  the  chance  of  its  service  to  himself  in  the 
coming  struggle.  At  the  same  time  he  pledged  himself 
by  a  solemn  promise,  that,  "  while  there  was  a  king  in 
England,  not  a  hair  of  Strafford's  head  should  be  touched 
by  the  parliament !  "     The  earl  arrived  in  London. 

"  It  was  about  three  of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon," 
says  Clarendon,  ''when  the  earl  of  Strafford  (being  in- 
firm and  not  well  disposed  in  health,  and  so  not  having 
stirred  out  of  his  house  that  morning,)  hearing  that  both 
houses  still  sate,  thought  fit  to  go  thither.    It  was  believed 


240  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

by  some  (upon  what  ground  was  never  clear  enough) 
that  he  made  that  haste  there  to  accuse  the  lord  Say, 
and  some  others,  of  having  induced  the  Scots  to  invade 
the  kingdom ;  but  he  was  scarce  entered  into  the  house 
of  peers,  when  the  message  from  the  house  of  commons 
was  called  in,  and  when  Mr.  Pym  at  the  bar,  and  in  the 
name  of  all  the  commons  of  England,  impeached 
Thomas,  earl  of  Strafford  (with  the  addition  of  all  his 
other  titles)  of  high  treason  !  " 

Upwards  of  twelve  years  had  elapsed  since  sir  Thomas 
Wentworth  stood  face  to  face  with  Pym.  Upon  the  eve 
of  his  elevation  to  the  peerage,  they  had  casually  met 
at  Greenwich,  when,  after  a  short  conversation  on  public 
affairs,  they  separated  with  these  memorable  words, 
addressed  by  Pym  to  Wentworth.  '^  You  are  going  to 
leave  us,  but  I  will  never  leave  you,  while  your  head  is 
upon  your  shoulders  !  "  ^  That  prophetic  summons  to  a 
more  fatal  meeting  was  now  at  last  accomplished ! 

Strafford  had  entered  the   house,  we  learn  from  one 

who    observed   him,   with    his    usual    impetuous    step — 

"with  speed,"  says  Baillie,  "he  comes  to  the  house;  he 

calls  rudely  at  the  door ;  James  Maxwell,  keeper  of  the 

black  rod,  opens ;  his  lordship  with  a  proud  glooming 

countenance,  makes  towards  his  place  at  the  board  head  ; 

but  at  once  many  bid  him  void   the  house;    so  he  is 

forced,  in  confusion,  to  go  to  the  door  till  he  was  called. 

.   .  He  offered  to  speak,  but  was  commanded  to  be  gone 

without  a  word.     In   the  outer  room,  James    Maxwell 

required  him,  as  prisoner,  to  deliver  his  sword.     When 

he  had  got  it,  he  cries,  with  a  loud  voice,  for  his  man  to 

^  An  admirable  commentary  on  this  fierce  text  is  supplier!  by  my 
friend  Mr.  Cattermole,  at  the  commencement  of  the  volume.  [In 
his  vignette  on  the  title-page,  of  Wentworth  walking  downstairs 
from  Pym  to  his  boat.] 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  241 

carry  my  lord-lieutenant's  sword.  This  done,  he  makes 
through  a  number  of  people  to  his  coach,  all  gazing,  no 
man  capping  to  him,  before  whom  that  morning  the 
greatest  in  England  would  have  stood  uncovered." 

This  was  a  change  indeed  !  Yet  it  was  a  change  for 
which  Strafford  would  seem  to  have  been  found  not 
altogether  unprepared.  In  all  the  proceedings  prelim- 
inary to  his  memorable  trial,  in  all  the  eventful  incidents 
that  followed,  he  was  quiet  and  collected,  and  showed, 
in  his  general  bearing,  a  magnanimous  self-subduement. 
It  is  a  mean  as  well  as  a  hasty  judgment,  which  would 
attribute  this  to  any  unworthy  compromise  with  his  real 
nature.  It  is  probably  a  juster  and  more  profound  view 
of  it,  to  say  that,  into  a  few  of  the  later  weeks  of  his  life, 
new  knowledge  had  penetrated  from  the  midst  of 'the 
breaking  of  his  fortunes.  It  was  well  and  beautifully  said 
by  a  then  living  poet, — ■ 

*'  The  soul's  dark  cottage,  battered  and  decayed, 
Lets  in  new  light  through  chinks  that  time  has  made  ! " 

— and  when  suddenly  upon  the  sight  of  Strafford  broke 
the  vision  of  the  long  unseen  assembly  of  the  people, 
with  the  old  chiefs,  and  the  old  ceremonies,  only  more 
august  and  more  fatal, — when  he  saw  himself  in  a  single 
hour,  disabled  by  a  set  of  men  not  greater  in  vigour  or 
in  intellect  than  those  over  whom  the  weak-minded 
Buckingham  had  for  years  contemptuously  triumphed, — 
the  chamber  of  that  assembly  forsaken  for  Westminster 
Hall, — its  once  imperious  master  become  a  timid  auditor, 
listening  unobserved  through  his  screening  curtains,  and 
unable  to  repress  by  his  presence  a  single  threatening 
glance,  or  subdue  a  single  fierce  voice,  amongst  the 
multitude   assembled    to   pronounce   judgment   on   his 

R 


242  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

minister, — that  multitude  grown  from  the  "faithful 
commons  "  into  the  imperial  council  of  the  land,  and  the 
sworn  upholders  of  its  not  yet  fallen  liberties, — Pym  no 
longer  the  mouth-piece  of  a  faction  that  might  be  trampled 
on,  but  recognised  as  the  chosen  champion  of  the  people 
of  England,  "  the  delegated  voice  of  God ; " — when 
Strafford  had  persuaded  himself  that  all  this  vision  was 
indeed  a  reaUty  before  him,  we  may  feel  the  sudden  and 
subduing  conviction  which  at  once  enthralled  him  to 
itself!  the  conviction  that  he  had  mistaken  the  true 
presentment  of  that  principle  of  power  which  he  wor- 
shipped, and  that  his  genius  should  have  had  a  different 
devotion.  He  had  not  sunk  lower,  but  the  parUament 
had  towered  immeasurably  higher  ! 

The  first  thing  he  did  after  his  arrest,,  was  to  write  to 
the  lady  Strafford.  *'  Sweet  hart, — You  have  heard  before 
this  what  hath  befallen  me  'in  this  place,  but  be  you 
confident,  that  if  I  fortune  to  be  blamed,  yet  I  will  not, 
by  God's  help,  be  ashamed.  Your  carriage  upon  this 
misfortune  I  should  advise  to  be  calm,  not  seeming  to 
be  neglective  of  my  trouble,  and  yet  so  as  there  may 
appear  no  dejection  in  you.  Continue  on  the  family  as 
formerly,  and  make  much  of  your  children.  Tell  Will, 
Nan,  and  Arabella,  I  will  write  to  them  by  the  next  In 
the  mean  time  I  shall  pray  for  them  to  God,  that  he  may 
bless  them,  and  for  their  sakes  deliver  me  out  of  the 
furious  malice  of  my  enemies,  which  yet  I  trust,  through 
the  goodnesse  of  God,  shall  do  me  no  hurt.  God  have 
us  all  in  his  blessed  keeping.    Your  very  loving  husbande, 

^TRAFFORDE." 

A  few  days  after  this,  having  vainly  proffered  bail,  he 
w^as  committed  to  the  Tower.  Thereupon  he  wrote  again 
to  lady  Strafford.     "  Sweet  hart, — I  never  pityed  you  so 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  243 

much  as  I  do  now,  for  in  the  death  of  that  great  person 
the  deputy,  you  have  lost  the  principal  friend  you  had 
there,  whilst  we  are  here  riding  out  the  storm,  as  well  as 
God  and  the  season  shall  give  us  leave.  Yet  I  trust  lord 
Dillon  will  supply  unto  you  in  part  that  great  loss,  till  it 
please  God  to  bring  us  together  again.  As  to  myself, 
albeit  all  be  done  against  me  that  art  and  malice  can 
devise,  with  all  the  rigour  possible,  yet  I  am  in  great 
inward  quietnesse,  and  a  strong  behefe  God  will  deliver 
me  out  of  all  these  troubles.  The  more  I  look  into  my 
case,  the  more  hope  I  have,  and  sure,  if  there  be  any 
honour  and  justice  left,  my  life  will  not  be  in  danger, 
and  for  any  thing  els,  time  I  trust  will  salve  any  other 
hurt  which  can  be  done  me.  Therefore  hold  up  your 
heart,  look  to  the  children  and  your  house,  let  me  have 
your  prayers,  and  at  last,  by  God's  good  pleasure,  we 
shall  have  our  deliverance,  when  we  may  as  little  look 
for  it  as  we  did  for  this  blow  of  misfortune,  which,  I 
trust,  will  make  us  better  to  God  and  man.  Your  loving 
husbande,  Strafforde." 

The  preliminary  arrangements  having  been  settled, 
and  some  negotiations  proposed  by  Charles  with  a  view 
to  his  rescue  having  failed,  Strafford's  impeachment 
began.  Never  had  such  "  pompous  circumstances  "  and 
so  "stately  a  manner"  been  witnessed  at  any  judicial 
proceeding  in  England.  One  only,  since  that  day,  has 
matched  it.  It  was  not  the  trial  of  an  individual,  but 
the  solemn  arbitration  of  an  issue  between  the  two  great 
antagonist  principles,  liberty  and  despotism.  Westminster 
Hall,  which  had  alternately  witnessed  the  triumphs  of 
both,  was  the  fitting  scene.  Scaffolds,  nearly  reaching 
to  the  roof,  were  erected  on  either  side,  eleven  stages 
high,  divided  by  rails.     In  the  upper  ranks  of  these  were 


244  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

the  commissioners  of  Scotland  and  the  lords  of  Ireland, 
who  had  joined  with  the  commoners  of  England  in  their 
accusations.  In  the  centre  sat  the  peers  in  their  parlia- 
ment robes,  and  the  lord  keeper  and  the  judges,  in  their 
scarlet  robes,  were  on  the  woolsacks.  At  the  upper  end, 
beyond  the  peers,  was  a  chair  raised  under  a  cloth  of 
state  for  the  king,  and  another  for  the  prince.  The 
throne  was  unoccupied,  for  the  king  was  supposed  not 
to  be  present,  since,  in  his  presence,  by  legal  construc- 
tion, no  judicial  act  could  legally  be  done.  Two  cabinets 
or  galleries,  with  trellis  work,  were  on  each  side  of  the 
cloth  of  state.  The  king,  the  queen,  and  their  court, 
occupied  one  of  these  ^ — the  foreign  nobility  then  in 
London  the  other.  The  earls  of  Arundel  and  Lindsey 
acted,  the  one  as  high-steward,  and  the  other  as  high- 
constable,  of  England.  Strafford  entered  the  hall  daily, 
guarded  by  two  hundred  trainbands.  The  king  had 
procured  it  as  a  special  favour,  that  the  axe  should  not 
be  carried  before  him.  At  the  foot  of  the  state- cloth 
was  a  scaffold  for  ladies  of  quality ;  at  the  lower  end  was 
a  place  with  partitions,  and  an  apartment  to  retire  to,  for 
the  convenience  and  consultations  of  the  managers  of  the 
trial;  opposite  to  this  the  witnesses  entered;  and  between 
was  a  small  desk,  at  which  the  accused  earl  stood  or  sate, 
with  the  lieutenant  of  the  Tower  beside  him,  and  at  his 
back  four  secretaries. 

The  articles  of  accusation  had  gradually,  during  the 
long  and  tedious  preliminary  proceedings,  swelled  from 
nine — which  was  their  original  number — to  twenty- eight. 

^  The  king,  however,  observes  BailHe,  "brake  down  the  screens 
with  his  own  hands,  so  they  sat  in  the  eyes  of  all,  but  little  more 
regarded  than  if  they  had  been  absent,  for  the  lords  sat  all  covered." 
Baillie  was  the  principal  of  the  college  of  Glasgow,  and  present  by 
order  of  the  Scottish  party. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  245 

Pym,  in  an  able  speech,  presented  Ihem  to  the  house  of 
lords.  Strafford  entreated  that — seeing  these  charges 
filled  200  sheets  of  paper,  and  involved  the  various  and 
ill-remembered  incidents  of  fourteen  years  of  a  life  of 
severe  action — the  space  of  three  months  should  be 
permitted  for  the  answer.  He  was  allowed  three  weeks, 
and,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1641,  his  answers,  in 
detail,  to  the  charges  of  the  commons  were  read  to  the 
house.  The  2  2d  of  March  was  then  fixed  for  the 
commencement  of  his  trial. 

On  the  first  reception  of  the  articles,  Strafford,  with 
characteristic  purpose,  wrote  to  his  wife.  *'  Sweet  Harte, 
— It  is  long  since  I  writt  unto  you,  for  I  am  here  in  such 
a  trouble,  as  gives  me  little  or  no  respitt.  The  charge  is 
now  come  in,  and  I  am  now  able,  I  prayse  God,  to  tell 
you  that  I  conceive  there  is  nothing  capitall ;  and  for  the 
reste,  I  know  at  the  worste  his  majestic  will  pardon  all, 
without  hurting  my  fortune ;  and  then  we  shall  be  happy, 
by  God's  grace.  Therefore  comfort  yourself,  for  I  trust 
thes  cloudes  will  away,  and  that  wee  shall  have  faire 
weather  afterwardes.  Farewell.  Your  loving  husband, 
Strafforde."  He  expressed  the  same  opinion  in  a 
letter  to  sir  Adam  Loftus. 

A  short  summary  of  the  charges  will  be  sufficient  for 
the  present  purpose.  For  it  is  not  necessary,  after  the 
ample  notice  which  has  been  given  of  Strafford's  life 
and  actions,  to  occupy  any  considerable  space  with 
the  proceedings,  which  only  further  illustrated  them 
here.^ 

The  grand  object  which  the  leaders  of  the  commons 
had  in  view,  was  to  establish  against  Strafford  an  attempt 

1  Rush  worth  has  devoted  a  large  folio  volume,  to  the  occurrences 
of  the  impeachment  alone. 


246  BROWN  mas  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

TO  SUBVERT  THE   FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS  OF  THE  COUNTRY.^ 

They  had  an  unquestionable  right,  with  this  view,  to 
blend  in  the  impeachment  offences  of  a  different  degree ; 
nor  was  it  ever  pretended  by  them  that  more  than  one 
or  two  of  the  articles  amounted  to  treason.  Their  course 
— to  deduce  a  legal  construction  of  treason  from  actions 
notoriously  gone  *' thorough  "  with  in  the  service  and  in 
exaltation  of  the  king — was  to  show  that,  no  matter  with 
what  motive,  any  actions  undertaken  which  had  a  tendency 
to  prove  destructive  to  the  state,  amounted,  in  legal 
effect,  to  a  traitorous  design  against  the  sovereign.  The 
sovereign,  it  was  argued  by  these  great  men,  could  never 
have  had  a  contemplated  existence  beyond,  or  indepen- 
dent of,  the  state.  It  could  never  have  been  the  object, 
they  said,  to  have  defended  the  king  by  the  statute  of 
Edward  III.,  and  to  have  left  undefended  the  great  body 
of  the  people  associated  under  him.  This  principle 
Strafford  had  himself  recognised  in  his  support  of  the 
petition  of  right,  and  it  is  truly  observed  by  Rushworth, 
that  "  all  the  laws  confirmed  and  renewed  in  that  petition 
of  right  were  said  to  be  the  most  envenomed  arrows  that 
gave  him  his  mortal  wound."  The  proofs  by  which  it 
was  proposed  to  sustain  the  tremendous  accusation,  were 
to  be  deduced  from  a  series  of  his  actions  infringing  the 
laws,  from  words  intimating  arbitrary  designs,  and  from 
certain  counsels  which  directly  tended  to  the  entire  ruin 
of  the  frame  of  the  constitution. 

Over  the  three  great  divisions  of  his  public  functions 
the  articles  of  impeachment  were  distributed.     As  pre 

^  They  had  passed  this  vote  in  the  house  of  commons,  and  against 
it  not  a  voice  was  raised,  even  by  the  earl's  most  ardent  supporters, 
*'  That  the  earl  of  Strafford  had  endeavoured  to  subvert  the  ancient 
and  fundamental  laws  of  the  realm,  and  to  introduce  arbitrary  and 
tyrannical  government. " 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  247 

sident  of  the  council  of  York,  he  was  charged  with  having 
procured  powers  subversive  of  all  law,  with  having  com- 
mitted insufferable  acts  of  oppression  under  colour  of  his 
instructions,  and  with  having  distinctly  announced  tyran- 
nical intentions,  by  declaring  that  the  people  should  find 
*'the  king's  little  finger  heavier  than  the  loins  of  the  law." 
As  governor  of  Ireland,  he  was  accused  of  having  publicly 
asserted,  "  That  the  Irish  was  a  conquered  nation,  and 
that  the  king  might  do  with  them  as  he  pleased."  He 
was  charged  with  acts  of  oppression  towards  the  earl  of 
Cork,  lord  Mountnorris,  the  lord  chancellor  Loftus,  the 
earl  of  Kildare,  and  other  persons.  He  had,  it  was 
alleged,  issued  a  general  warrant  for  the  seizure  of  all 
persons  who  refused  to  submit  to  any  legal  decree  against 
them,  and  for  their  detention  till  they  either  submitted, 
or  gave  bail  to  appear  before  the  council  table :  he  had 
sent  soldiers  to  free  quarters  on  those  who  would  not 
obey  his  arbitrary  decrees  :  he  had  prevented  the  redress 
of  his  injustice,  by  procuring  instructions  to  prohibit  all 
persons  of  distinction  from  quitting  Ireland  without  his 
express  licence :  he  had  appropriated  to  himself  a  large 
share  of  the  customs,  the  monopoly  of  tobacco,  and  the 
sale  of  licences  for  the  exportation  of  certain  commodi- 
ties :  he  had  committed  grievous  acts  of  oppression  in 
guarding  his  monopoly  of  tobacco :  he  had,  for  his  own 
interest,  caused  the  rates  on  merchandise  to  be  raised, 
and  the  merchants  to  be  harassed  with  new  and  unlawful 
oaths :  he  had  obstructed  the  industry  of  the  country, 
by  introducing  new  and  unknown  processes  into  the 
manufacture  of  flax :  he  had  encouraged  his  army,  the 
instrument  of  his  oppression,  by  assuring  them  that  his 
majesty  would  regard  them  as  a  pattern  for  all  his  three 
kingdoms  :  he  had  enforced  an  illegal  oath  on  the  Scottish 


248  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

subjects  in  Ireland :  he  had  given  undue  encourage- 
ment to  papists,  and  had  actually  composed  the  whole  of 
his  new-levied  troops  of  adherents  to  that  rehgion.  As 
chief  minister  of  England,  it  was  laid  to  his  charge  that 
he  had  instigated  the  king  to  make  war  on  the  Scots,  and 
had  himself,  as  governor  of  Ireland,  commenced  hos- 
tilities :  that,  on  the  question  of  supplies,  he  had  declared, 
**That  his  majesty  should  first  try  the  parliament  here, 
and  if  that  did  not  supply  him  according  to  his  occasions, 
he  might  then  use  his  prerogative  to  levy  what  he 
needed ;  and  that  he  should  be  acquitted  both  of  God 
and  man,  if  he  took  some  other  courses  to  supply 
himself,  though  it  were  against  the  will  of  his  subjects  : " 
that,  after  the  dissolution  of  that  parliament,  he  had  said 
to  his  majesty,  "That,  having  tried  the  affections  of  his 
people,  he  was  loose  and  absolved  from  all  rules  of 
government,  and  was  to  do  every  thing  that  power  would 
admit;  that  his  majesty  had  tried  all  ways,  and  was 
refused,  and  should  be  acquitted  both  to  God  and  man ; 
that  he  had  an  army  in  Ireland,  which  he  might  employ  to 
reduce  England  to  obedience."  He  was  farther  charged 
with  having  counselled  the  royal  declaration  which  re- 
flected so  bitterly  on  the  last  parliament ;  with  the  seizure 
of  the  bullion  in  the  Tower;  the  proposal  of  coining 
base  money ;  a  new  levy  of  ship-money ;  and  the  loan  of 
100,000/.  from  the  city  of  London.  He  was  accused  of 
having  told  the  refractory  citizens  that  no  good  would 
be  done  till  they  were  laid  up  by  the  heels,  and  some  of 
their  aldermen  hanged  for  an  example.  It  was  laid  to 
his  charge  that  he  had  levied  arbitrary  exactions  on  the 
people  of  Yorkshire  to  maintain  his  troops :  and,  finally, 
that  his  counsels  had  given  rise  to  the  rout  at  Newburn."  1 
^  Strafford's  Trial,  pp.  61 — 75.     Nalson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  11 — 20. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


249 


In  his  answers  and  opposing  evidence  Strafford  main- 
tained, that  "the  enlarged  instructions  for  the  council 
of  York  had  not  been  procured  by  his  solicitations  ;  that 
the   specified  instances  of  oppression  in  the   northern 
counties  were  committed  after  his  departure  for  Ireland  ; 
and  that  the  words  imputed  to  him  were  directly  the 
reverse  of  those  which  he  had  spoken.     With  regard  to 
Ireland,  he  vindicated  his  opinion  that  it  was  a  conquered 
country,  and  that  the  king's  prerogative  was  much  greater 
there   than   in    England.     He   contended   that   all   the 
judgments,  charged  on  him  as  arbitrary,  were  delivered 
by  competent  courts,  in  none  of  which  he  had  above  a 
single  voice  :  that  the  prevention  of  persons  from  quitting 
the  kingdom  without  licence,  as  well  as  placing  soldiers 
at  free  quarters  on  the  disobedient,  were  transactions 
consistent  with    ancient   usages  :    that   the    flax   manu 
facture  owed  all  its  prosperity  to  his  exertions,  and  that 
his  prohibition  tended   to  remedy  some  barbarous  and 
unjust  methods  of  sorting  the  yarn  :  that  his  bargains  for 
the  customs  and  tobacco  were  profitable  to  the  crown 
and   the   country:    and   that   the  oath   which   he   had 
enforced    on   the    Scots   was   required    by    the   critical 
circumstances  of  the  times,  and  fully  approved  by  the 
government.     In  regard  to  his  transactions  in  England, 
he  answered  that  hostility  against  Scotland  having  been 
resolved  on,  he  had  merely  counselled  an  offensive  in 
preference   to   a   defensive   war :    that    his   expressions 
relative   to   supplies  were   in  strict   conformity   to   the 
established  maxim  of  the  constitution  ^ :    that,   in  such 
emergencies   as  a   foreign  invasion,  the  sovereign  was 
entitled  to  levy  contributions,  or  adopt  any  other  measure 
for  the  public  defence  :   that  the  words  relative  to  the 
^  Salus  popidi  supretna  lex. 


250  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

employment  of  the  Irish  army  were  falsely  stated,  and 
that  he  had  not  ventured  to  apply  to  the  kingdom  of 
England  words  uttered  in  a  committee  expressly  as- 
sembled to  consider  of  the  reduction  of  Scotland.  He 
said  that  his  harsh  expressions  towards  the  citizens  of 
London  were  heard  by  only  one  interested  individual, 
and  not  heard  by  others  who  stood  as  near  him :  that 
the  contributions  in  Yorkshire  were  voluntary :  and  that 
the  proposals  for  seizing  the  bullion  and  coining  base 
money  did  not  proceed  from  him.^ 

The  charges  which  remained  untouched  by  these 
answers  were  abandoned  by  the  commons,  as  irre- 
lative or  incapable  of  proof,  and  on  the  23d  of 
March,  1641,  the  chief  manager,  Mr.  Pym,  rose 
in  Westminster  Hall,  and  opened  the  case  against 
him. 

The  "getting  up"  of  that  mighty  scene  has  been 
described,  and  a  few  words  may  serve  to  put  it,  as  it 
were,  in  action. 

Three  kingdoms,  by  their  representatives,  were  pre- 
sent, and  for  fifteen  days,  the  period  of  the  duration  of 
the  trial,  "it  was  daily,"  says  Baillie,  "the  most  glorious 
assembly  the  isle  could  afford."  The  earl  himself  ap- 
peared before  it  each  day  in  deep  mourning,  wearing  his 
George.  The  stern  and  simple  character  of  his  features 
accorded  with  the  occasion, — his  "  countenance  manly 
black,"  as  Whitelock  terms  it,  and  his  thick  dark  hair 
cut  short  from  his  ample  forehead.  A  poet  who  was 
present  exclaimed, 

1  Strafford's  Trial,  pp.  61—75.  Nalson,  vol.  11.  pp.  11—20.  I 
have  partly  availed  myself,  in  the  above,  of  Mr,  MacDiarmid's 
abstract — pp.  251 — 259.  Some  of  the  charges  specified,  were  added 
in  the  course  of  the  trial. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  251 

"On  thy  brow 
■   Sate  terror  mixed  with  wisdom,  and  at  once 
Saturn  and  Hermes  in  thy  countenance." 

— To  this  was  added  the  deep  interest  which  can  never 
be  withheld  from  sickness  bravely  borne.  His  face  was 
dashed  with  paleness,  and  his  body  stooped  with  its  own 
infirmities  even  more  than  with  its  master's  cares.  This 
was,  indeed,  so  evident,  that  he  was  obliged  to  allude  to 
it  himself,  and  it  was  not  seldom  alluded  to  by  others. 
"They  had  here,"  he  said,  on  one  occasion,  "this  rag  of 
mortality  before  them,  worn  out  with  numerous  infir- 
mities, which,  if  they  tore  into  shreds,  there  was  no  great 
loss,  only  in  the  spilling  of  his,  they  would  open  a  way 
to  the  blood  of  all  the  nobility  in  the  land,"  His 
disorders  were  the  most  terrible  to  bear  in  themselves, 
and  of  that  nature,  moreover,  which  can  least  endure  the 
aggravation  of  mental  anxiety.  A  severe  attack  of 
stone  ^  gout  in  one  of  his  legs  to  an  extent  even  with 
him  unusual,  and  other  pains,  had  bent  all  their  afilic- 
tions  upon  him.  Yet,  though  a  generous  sympathy  was 
demanded  on  this  score,  and  paid  by  not  a  few  of  his 
worst  opponents,  it  availed  little  with  the  multitudes  that 
were  present.  Much  noise  and  confusion  prevailed  at 
all  times  through  the  hall ;  there  was  always  a  great 
clamour  near  the  doors ;  and  we  have  it  on  the  authority 
of  Rush  worth  himself,  that  at  those  intervals  when 
Strafford  was  busied  in  preparing  his  answers,  the  most 
distracting  "hubbubs"  broke  out,  lords  walked  about 
and  chatted,  and  commoners  were  yet  more  offensively 
loud.2     This  was  unfavourable  to   the  recollection,  for 

^  See  Nalson,  vol.  ii.  p.  icx).  et  seq. 

2  Baillie  adds,  that  in  these  periods  *' flesh  and  bread"  was  ate, 
and  "bottles  of  beer  and  wine  were  going  thick  from  mouth  10 
mouth." 


252  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

disproof,  of  incidents  long  passed,  and  of  conversations 
forgotten !  ^  But  conscious  that  he  was  not  to  be 
allowed  in  any  case  permission  to  retire,  as  soon  as  one 
of  his  opponent  managers  had  closed  his  charge,  the  earl 
calmly  turned  his  back  to  his  judges,  and,  with  uncom- 
plaining composure,  conferred  with  his  secretaries  and 
counsel. 

He  had,  indeed,  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten,  strong 
assurances  to  sustain  him  secretly.  He  had,  first,  his 
own  conviction  of  the  legal  incompetency  of  the  charges, 
and  to  this  was  added  the  doubly  pledged  faith  of  the 
king.  In  his  prison  he  had  received  the  following 
letter  ; — "  Strafford, — The  misfortune  that  is  fallen 
upon  you  by  the  strange  mistaking  and  conjuncture  of 
these  times,  being  such  that  I  must  lay  by  the  thought 
of  employing  you  hereafter  in  my  affairs,  yet  I  cannot 
satisfy  myself  in  honour  or  conscience,  without  assuring 
you  (now  in  the  midst  of  your  troubles)  that  upon  the 
word  of  a  king  you  shall  not  suffer  in  life,'  honour,  or 
fortune.  This  is  but  justice,  and  therefore  a  very  mean 
reward  from  a  master  to  so  faithful  and  able  a  servant, 
as  you  have  showed  yourself  to  be, — yet  it  is  as  much  as 
I  conceive  the  present  times  will  permit,  though  none 
shall  hinder  me  from  being  your  constant  and  faithful 
friend,  Charles."  But  against  these  aids,  were  opposed 
certain  significant  symptoms  of  a  desperate  and  fatal 
purpose  on  the  part  of  the  managers  of  the  impeachment. 
The  bishops,  on  whom  he  might  reasonably  have  relied, 
had,  on  the  motion  of  Williams,  withdrawn  from  attend- 
ance '"''in  agitatione  causes  sanguinis,^*  surrendering   the 

1  Baillie  cannot  refrain  from  saying,  while  he  describes  the  guilt 
to  have  been  fully  proved,  that  some  of  the  evidence  was  only 
"chamber  and  table-discourse,  flim-flams,  and  fearie -fairies." 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  253 

right  they  had,  under  what  was  called  "  the  constitutions 
of  Clarendon,"  of  attending  in  capital  trials  up  to  the 
stage  of  judgment.  Next, — the  person  on  whose  evi- 
dence Strafford  mainly  relied  in  the  proof  of  his  answers, 
sir  George  Radcliffe,  had,  by  a  master-stroke  of  Pym's, 
been  incapacitated  suddenly  by  a  charge  of  treason 
against  himself, — not  preferred  certainly  without  cause, 
on  the  presumption  of  the  guilt  of  the  principal,  for  he 
had  been  Strafford's  guilty  agent  in  all  things,  but  pre- 
ferred with  a  fatal  effect  to  Strafford  himself.  Again, — 
though  counsel  had  been  granted  him,  they  were  re- 
stricted by  the  lords,  on  conference  with  the  commons, 
to  the  argument  of  points  of  law.  Lastly, — with  an 
irresistible  energy,  equalled  only  by  Strafford's  own, 
Pym  had  forced  from  the  king  a  release  for  all  the 
members  of  his  secret  council  from  their  oath  of  secrecy, 
in  order  to  their  examination  before  the  committee  of 
impeachment. 

"My  lords,"  said  Strafford, — alluding  to  this,  and  to 
certain  words  of  his  own  wliich  such  examination  had 
been  alleged  to  have  proved, — "  My  lords,  these  words 
were  not  wantonly  or  unnecessarily  spoken,  or  whispered 
in  a  corner,  but  they  were  spoken  in  full  council,  where, 
by  the  duty  of  my  oath,  I  was  obliged  to  speak  accord- 
ing to  my  heart  and  conscience,  in  all  things  concerning 
the  king's  service.  If  I  had  forborne  to  speak  what  I 
conceived  to  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  king  and  the 
people,  I  had  been  perjured  towards  almighty  God. 
And  for  delivering  my  mind  openly  and  freely,  shall  I 
be  in  danger  of  my  life,  as  a  traitor?  If  that  necessity 
be  put  upon  me,  I  thank  God,  by  his  blessing  I  have 
learned  not  to  stand  in  fear  of  him  who  can  only  kill 
the  body.     If  the  question  be,  whether  I  must  be  traitor 


254  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

to  man,  or  perjured  to  God,  I  will  be  faithful  to  my 
creator.  And  whatsoever  shall  befall  me  from  popular 
rage  or  from  my  own  weakness,  I  must  leave  it  to  that 
almighty  being,  and  to  the  justice  and  honour  of  my 
judges.  My  lords,  I  conjure  you  not  to  make  your- 
selves so  unhappy,  as  to  disable  yourselves  and  your 
children  from  undertaking  the  great  charge  and  trust 
of  the  commonwealth.  You  inherit  that  trust  from  your 
fathers,  you  are  born  to  great  thoughts,  you  are  nursed 
up  for  the  great  and  weighty  employments  of  the 
kingdom.  But  if  it  be  once  admitted,  that  a  counsellor, 
delivering  his  opinion  with  others  at  the  council-table, 
candide  et  caste,  under  an  oath  of  secrecy  and  faithfulness, 
shall  be  brought  into  question,  upon  some  misappre- 
hension or  ignorance  of  law, — if  every  word,  that  he 
speaks  from  a  sincere  and  noble  intention,  shall  be 
drawn  against  him,  for  the  attainting  of  him,  his  children 
and  posterity, — I  know  not  (under  favor  I  speak  it,)  any 
wise  or  noble  person  of  fortune,  who  will,  upon  such 
perilous  aftd  unsafe  terms,  adventure  to  be  counsellor  to 
the  king !  Therefore,  I  beseech  your  lordships  so  to 
look  on  me,  that  my  misfortune  may  not  bring  an  incon- 
venience upon  yourselves.  And  though  my  words  were 
not  so  advised  and  discreet,  or  so  well  weighed,  as  they 
ought  to  be,  yet  I  trust  your  lordships  are  too  honourable 
and  just,  to  lay  them  to  my  charge  as  high  treason. 
Opinions  may  make  an  heretic,  but  that  they  make  a 
traitor,  I  have  never  heard  till  now." 

Again,  in  reference  to  matters  alleged  against  him  on 
the  evidence  of  familiar  conversations,  he  eloquently 
protested  thus  : — "  If,  my  lords,  words  sjDoken  to  friends 
in  familiar  discourse,  spoken  in  one's  chamber,  spoken 
at  one's  table,  spoken  in  one's  sick  bed,  spoken  perhaps 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  255 

to  gain  better  reason,  to  give  himself  more  clear  light 
and  judgment,  by  reasoning ; — if  these  things  shall  be 
brought  against  a  man  as  treason,  this,  under  favour 
takes  away  the  comfort  of  all  human  society, — by  this 
means  we  shall  be  debarred  from  speaking  (the  principal 
joy  and  comfort  of  society)  with  wise  and  good  men,  to 
become  wiser,  and  better  our  lives.  If  these  things  be 
strained  to  take  away  life  and  honour,  and  all  that  is 
desirable,  it  will  be  a  silent  world  !  A  city  will  become 
a  hermitage,  and  sheep  will  be  found  amongst  a  crowd 
and  press  of  people !  and  no  man  shall  dare  to  impart 
his  solitary  thoughts  or  opinions  to  his  friend  and 
neighbour ! "  Noble  and  touching  as  this  is,  let  the 
reader  remember,  as  he  reads  it,  the  case  of  Mount- 
norris,  and  the  misquoting  and  torturing  of  words,  in 
themselves  harmless,  by  which  the  lord  deputy  of  Ireland 
sacrificed  that  man  to  his  schemes  of  absolute  power. 
It  is  mournful  to  be  obliged  to  add  that,  it  is  chiefly  the 
genius  of  a  great  actor  which  calls  for  admiration  in  this 
great  scene ;  for  though  he  was,  as  we  may  well  believe, 
sincere  in  his  sudden  present  acknowledgment  of  that 
power  of  the  commons  which  he  had  so  often  braved, 
the  same  plea  of  sincerity  cannot  serve  him  in  his  bold 
outfacing  of  every  previous  action  of  his  power. 

As  the  trial  proceeded,  so  extraordinary  were  the 
resources  he  manifested,  that  the  managers  of  the 
commons  failed  in  much  of  the  eflect  of  their  evidence. 
Even  the  clergy  who  were  present  forgot  the  imprison- 
ment of  the  weak  and  miserable  Laud  (who  now  lay 
in  prison,  stripped  of  his  power  by  this  formidable  par- 
liament, which  the  very  despotism  of  himself  and  Straf- 
ford had  gifted  with  its  potently  operative  force!)  and 
thought  of  nothing  but   the  "grand  apostate"  before 


256  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

them.  *'By  this  time,"  says  May,  "the  people  began 
to  be  a  little  divided  in  opinion.  The  clergy  in  general 
were  so  much  fallen  into  love  and  admiration  of  this 
earl,  that  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  almost  quite 
forgotten  by  them.  The  courtiers  cried  him  up,  and  the 
ladies  were  exceedingly  on  his  side.  It  seemed  a  very 
pleasant  object  to  see  so  many  Sempronias,  with  pen, 
ink,  and  paper  in  their  hands,  noting  the  passages,  and 
discoursing  upon  the  grounds,  of  law  and  state.  They 
were  all  of  his  side,  whether  moved  by  pity,  proper  to 
their  sex,  or  by  ambition  of  being  able  to  judge  of  the 
parts  of  the  prisoner.  But  so  great  was  the  favour  and 
love  which  they  openly  expressed  to  him,  that  some 
could  not  but  think  of  that  verse  : — 

*  Non  formosus  erat,  sed  erat  facundus  Ulysses 
Et  tamen  aequoreas  torsit  amore  deas  ! ' " 

Even  the  chairman  of  the  committee  who  prepared  his 
impeachment,  the  author  of  the  Memorials,  observes, 
"Certainly  never  any  man  acted  such  a  part,  on  such 
a  theatre,  with  more  wisdome,  constancy,  and  eloquence, 
with  greater  reason,  judgment,  and  temper,  and  with  a 
better  grace  in  all  his  words  and  gestures,  than  this  great 
and  excellent  person  did." 

Such,  indeed,  appeared  to  be  a  very  prevailing  feeling, 
when  on  the  morning  of  the  loth  of  April,  before  the 
opening  of  that  day's  trial,  Pym  entered  the  house  of 
commons  and  announced  a  communication  respecting 
the  earl  of  Strafford,  of  vital  importance.  The  members 
were  ordered  to  remain  in  their  places,  and  the  doors  of 
the  house  were  locked.  Pym  and  the  young  sir  Harry 
Vane  then  rose,  and  produced  a  paper  containing  "a 
copy  of  notes  taken  at  a  junto  of  the  privy  council  for 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  257 

the  Scots  affairs,  about  the  5th  of  May  last."  These 
were  notes  made  by  sir  Henry  Vane  the  elder,  and 
Clarendon  says,  that  he  placed  them  in  the  hands  of 
Pym  out  of  hatred  to  Strafford.  With  much  more  ap- 
pearance and  likelihood  of  truth,  however,  Whitelocke 
states  that  the  elder  Vane,  being  absent  from  London, 
and  in  want  of  some  papers,  sent  the  key  of  his  study 
to  his  son,  and  that  the  latter,  in  executing  his  father's 
orders,  found  this  paper,  and  was  ultimately  induced  by 
Pym  to  allow  its  production  against  Strafford.  The 
commons  received  this  new  evidence  with  many  ex- 
pressions of  zealous  thankfulness. 

On  the  13th  of  April  the  notes  were  read  in  West- 
minster Hall  by  Pym.  They  were  in  the  shape  of  a 
dialogue  and  conference,  and  contained  opinions  de- 
livered by  Laud  and  Hamilton ;  but  the  essential  words 
were  words  spoken  by  Strafford  to  the  king.  "You 
have  an  army  in  Ireland  that  you  may  employ  to  reduce 
this  kingdom  to  obedience."  Vane  the  elder  was  then 
called.  He  denied  recollection  of  the  words  at  first, 
till  it  had  been  asserted  by  others  of  the  privy  council, 
that  Strafford  had  used  those  words,  "  or  the  like,"  when 
the  earl's  brother-in-law,  lord  Clare,  rose  and  suggested 
that  "  this  kingdom,"  by  grammatical  construction,  might 
mean  Scotland.  With  singular  ability  Strafford  directed 
all  his  resources  to  the  weakening  of  this  evidence,  but 
it  was  generally  regarded  as  fatal.  He  urged  his  brother- 
in-law's  objection ;  the  very  title  of  the  notes,  in  proof 
of  the  country  referred  to,  "no  danger  of  a  war  with 
Scotland,  if  offensive,  not  defensive;"  and  protested 
against  a  man's  life  being  left  to  hang  upon  a  single 
word.  The  evidence  was,  finally,  admitted  against  him, 
and  he  was  called  upon  to  make  his  general  defence 

s 


258  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

in  person  against  the  facts,  leaving  the  law  to  his 
counsel. 

He  began  by  adverting  to  his  painful  and  adverse 
position,  alone  and  unsupported,  against  the  whole 
authority  and  power  of  the  commons,  his  health  im- 
paired, his  memory  almost  gone,  his  thoughts  unquiet 
and  troubled.  He  prayed  of  their  lordships  to  supply 
his  many  infirmities,  by  their  better  abiUties,  better 
judgments,  better  memories.  "  You  alone,"  he  said,  "  I 
acknowledge,  with  all  gladness  and  humility,  as  my 
judges.  The  king  condemns  no  man  ;  the  great  opera- 
tion of  his  sceptre  is  mercy;  he  dispenses  justice  by 
his  ministers ;  but,  with  reverence  be  it  spoken,  he  is  not 
my  judge,  nor  are  the  commons  my  judges,  in  this 
case  of  life  and  death.  To  your  judgment  alone,  my 
lords,  I  submit  myself  in  all  cheerfulness.  I  have  great 
cause  to  give  thanks  to  God  for  this,  and  celebrated  be 
the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors  who  have  so  ordained." 

With  great  force  and  subtle  judgment,  he  then  argued 
against  the  doctrine  of  arbitrary  and  constructive  treason, 
and  afterwards  proceeded — "  My  lords,  it  is  hard  to  be 
questioned  upon  a  law  which  cannot  be  shown.  Where 
hath  this  fire  lain  hid  so  many  hundred  years,  without 
smoke  to  discover  it,  till  it  thus  burst  forth  to  consume 
me  and  my  children?  That  punishment  should  precede 
promulgation  of  a  law,  to  be  punished  by  a  law 
subsequent  to  the  fact,  is  extreme  hard  !  What  man  can 
be  safe,  if  this  be  admitted?  My  lords,  it  is  hard  in 
another  respect, — that  there  should  be  no  token  set,  by 
which  we  should  know  this  ofi'ence,  no  admonition  by 
which  we  should  avoid  it.  My  lords,  be  pleased  to  give 
that  regard  to  the  peerage  of  England,  as  never  expose 
yourselves  to  such  moot  points — such  constructive  inter- 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  259 

pretations  of  laws  :  if  there  must  be  a  trial  of  wits,  let  the 
subject  matter  be  of  somewhat  else  than  the  lives  and 
honours  of  peers.  It  will  be  wisdom  for  yourselves,  for 
your  posterity,  and  for  the  whole  kingdom,  to  cast  into 
the  fire  these  bloody  and  mysterious  volumes  of  con- 
structive and  arbitrary  treason,  as  the  primitive  Christians 
did  their  books  of  curious  arts,  and  betake  yourselves  to 
the  plain  letter  of  the  law  and  statute,  that  telleth  us 
what  is  and  what  is  not  treason,  without  being  more 
ambitious  to  be  more  learned  in  the  art  of  killing  than 
our  forefathers !  It  is  now  240  years  since  any  man  was 
touched  for  this  alleged  crime,  to  this  height,  before 
myself.  Let  us  not  awaken  these  sleeping  lions  to  our 
destructions,  by  taking  up  a  few  musty  records,  that  have 
lain  by  the  walls  so  many  ages,  forgotten  or  neglected. 
May  your  lordships  please  not  to  add  this  to  my  other 
misfortunes, — let  not  a  precedent  be  derived  from  me, 
so  disadvantageous  as  this  will  be  in  its  consequence  to 
the  whole  kingdom.  Do  not,  through  me,  wound  the 
interest  of  the  commonwealth  : — and  howsoever  these 
gentlemen  say,  they  speak  for  the  commonwealth,  yet, 
in  this  particular,  I  indeed  speak  for  it,  and  show  the 
inconveniences  and  mischiefs  that  will  fall  upon  it :  for,  as 
it  is  said  in  the  statute  i  Hen.  IV.,  'No  one  will  know 
what  to  do  or  say  for  fear  of  such  penalties.'  Do  not 
put,  my  lords,  such  difficulties  upon  ministers  of  state, 
that  men  of  wisdom,  of  honour,  and  of  fortune,  may  not 
with  cheerfulness  and  safety  be  employed  for  the  public. 
If  you  weigh  and  measure  them  by  grains  and  scruples, 
the  public  affairs  of  the  kingdom  will  lie  waste,  no  man 
will  meddle  with  them  who  hath  any  thing  to  lose.  My 
lords,  I  have  troubled  you  longer  than  I  should  have 
done,  were  it  not  for  the  interest  of  those  dear  pledges 


26o  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

a  saint  in  Heaven  hath  left  me."  At  this  word  (says  the 
reporter)  he  stopped  awhile,  letting  fall  some  tears  to  her 
memory;  then  he  went  on: — "What  I  forfeit  myself  is 
nothing ;  but  that  indiscretion  should  extend  to  my 
posterity  woundeth  me  to  the  very  soul.  You  will 
pardon  my  infirmity ;  something  I  should  have  added, 
but  am  not  able ;  therefore  let  it  pass.  Now,  my  lords, 
for  myself,  I  have  been,  by  the  blessing  of  Almighty 
God,  taught  that  the  afflictions  of  this  present  life  are 
not  to  be  compared  to  the  eternal  weight  of  glory,  which 
shall  be  revealed  hereafter.  And  so,  my  lords,  even  so, 
with  all  tranquillity  of  mind,  I  freely  submit  myself  to 
your  judgment,  and  whether  that  judgment  be  of  life  or 
dQ2ii\  Te  Deum  iaudamus."'^ 

^  This  is  from  Whitelocke's  Memorials.  It  is  the  most  beautiful 
and  complete  report  that  has  been  given.  I  may  subjoin  a  character- 
istic note  from  Baillie's  letters.  "At  the  end  he  made  such  a 
pathetic  oration,  for  half  an  hour,  as  ever  comedian  did  on  the  stage. 
The  matter  and  expression  was  exceeding  brave.  Doubtless  if  he 
had  grace  and  civil  goodness  he  is  a  most  eloquent  man.  One 
passage  is  most  spoken  of;  his  breaking  off  in  weeping  and  silence 
when  he  spoke  of  his  first  wife.  Some  took  it  for  a  true  defect  in 
his  memory  ;  others  for  a  notable  part  of  his  rhetoric  ;  some  that 
true  grief  and  remorse  at  that  remembrance  had  stopt  his  mouth  ; 
for  they  say  that  his  first  lady,  being  with  child,  and  finding  one 
of  his  mistress's  letters,  brought  it  to  him,  and  chiding  him  there- 
fore, he  struck  her  on  the  breast,  whereof  she  shortly  died." — 
Letters,  p.  291.  The  latter  statement  is  only  one  of  a  thousand 
horrible  and  disgusting  falsehoods  which,  notwithstanding  the 
abundance  of  true  accusatory  matter,  were  circulated  at  the  time 
against  Strafford,  and  one  or  two  specimens  of  which  may  be  found 
in  the  fourth  volume  of  lord  Somer's  Collection  of  Tracts.  His 
friends,  however,  it  is  to  be  remarked,  were  not  less  forward  in 
getting  up  all  sorts  of  fictitious  points  of  sympathy  (in  some 
respects,  also,  unnecessary,  since  they  had  plenty  of  true  resources 
in  that  regard  around  him  and  his  memory  ;  and  as  an  instance  I 
may  mention  that  an  extremely  pathetic  letter  of  sir  Walter 
Raleigh  to  his  wife  (the  most  pathetic,  probably,  in  the  language), 
written  while  he  expected  execution,  was  printed  with  Strafford's 
signature,  and  with  the  alteration  of  words  to  meet  the  circumstances 
of  Strafford's  death.     The  writers  of  the  Biog.  Brit,  do  not  seem  to 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  26 1 

Great  was  the  struggle  to  be  made  against  such  noble 
and  affecting  eloquence,  and  Pym  proved  himself  not 
unequal  to  it.  While  we  yield  due  admiration  to  the 
unexampled  demeanour  of  Strafford  in  this  conjuncture  ; — 
to  that  quick  perception  of  his  exact  position,  which, 
while  it  revealed  to  him  the  whole  magnitude  of  the 
dangerj  suggested  the  most  plausible  defence,  and  sup- 
plied resolution  where,  to  an  ordinary  spirit,  it  would 
have  induced  despair, — so  that,  while  sinking  down  the 
tremendous  gulf  into  which  he  had  been  so  suddenly 
precipitated,  he  displayed  the  same  coolness  in  catching 
at  every  weed,  however  feeble,  that  might  retard  his 
descent,  as  though  the  peril  had  long  been  foreseen  and 
the  methods  of  escape  long  rehearsed, — while  we  praise 
this  in  him,  let  us  not  forget  the  still  more  extraordinary 
bearing  of  his  adversary — the  triumph  of  Pym,  as  un- 
paralleled as  the  overthrow  of  Strafford.  In  either 
case  the  individual  rose  or  fell  with  the  establishment  or 
the  withdrawal  of  a  great  principle.  Pym  knew  and  felt 
this,  and  that  with  him  it  now  rested  whether  or  not  the 
privileges  so  long  contested,  the  rights  so  long  misunder- 
stood, of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  should  win  at  last 
their  assured  consummation  and  acknowledgment.  In 
the  speeches  of  Pym  the  true  point  is  to  be  recognised, 
on  which  the  vindication  of  Strafford's  death  turns.  The 
defence  of  the  accused  was  technical,  and  founded  on 
rules  of  evidence,  and  legal  constructions  of  statutes, 
which,  though  cleirly  defined  since,  were  in  that  day 
recognised  doubtfully,  and  frequently  exceeded.  The 
defence  of  the  accusers,  if  they  are  indeed  to  be  put 


have  been  aware  of  this.     But  see  Somers'  Tracts,  vol.  iv.  pp.  249, 
250.  ;  and  compare  with  Biog.  Brit.  vol.  v.  p.  3478. 


262  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

upon  their  defence  before  a  posterity  for  whose  rights 
they  hazarded  all  things,  rests  upon  a  principle  which 
was  implanted  in  man  when  he  was  born,  and  which  no 
age  can  deaden  or  obscure.  "  My  lords,"  said  .  Pym, 
"we  charge  him  with  nothing  but  what  the  'law'  in 
every  man's  breast  condemns,  the  light  of  nature,  the 
light  of  common  reason,  the  rules  of  common  society."  ^ 
Nor  can  it  be  doubted,  that  occasions  must  ever  be 
recognised  by  the  philosopher  and  the  statesman,  when 
the  community  may  be  re-invested  in  those  rights,  which 
were  theirs  before  a  particular  law  was  established.  If 
ever  such  an  occasion  had  arisen,  surely,  looking  back 
upon  the  occurrences  of  the  past,  and  forward  upon  the 
prospects  of  the  future,  it  had  arisen  here.  It  was  time 
that  outraged  humanity  should  appeal,  as  Pym  afterwards 
urged,  to  "  the  element  of  all  laws,  out  of  which  they  are 
derived,  the  end  of  all  laws,  to  which  they  are  designed, 
and  in  which  they  are  perfected."  ^  The  public  liberty 
was  in  danger,  from  the  life  of  Strafford,  and  the  question 
of  justice  reared  itself  above  the  narrow  limits  of  the  law. 
For  yet,  again  Pym  urged,  the  law  itself  can  be  no  other 
than  that  "which  puts  a  difference  betwixt  good  and 
evil,  betwixt  just  and  unjust  I  It  is  God  alone  who 
subsists  by  himself,  all  other  things  subsist  in  a  mutual 
dependence  and  relation  ! "  ^  Nor  can  it  be  alleged, 
even  by  the  legal  opponents  of  this  impeachment,  that 
the  proofs  advanced  under  the  fifteenth  article,  which 
had  charged  Strafford  with  raising  money  by  his  own 
authority,  and  quartering  troops  upon  the  people  of 
Ireland,  did  not  advance  far  more  nearly  to  a  substantive 
treason,  within  the  statute  of  Edward  III.,  than  many  of 

^  Rushworth,  vol.  viii.  pp.  io8,  109.  ^  Ibid.  p.  661. 

8  Ibid.  p.  663. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  263 

the  recognised  precedents  that  were  offered.  "  Neither 
will  this,"  Pym  contended  on  that  ground  with  a  terrible 
earnestness,  "  be  a  new  way  of  blood.  There  are  marks 
enough  to  trace  this  law  to  the  very  original  of  this 
kingdom  ;  and  if  it  hath  not  been  put  in  execution,  as  he 
allegeth,  this  240  years,  it  was  not  for  want  of  a  law,  but 
that  all  that  time  had  not  bred  a  man,  bold  enough  to 
commit  such  crimes  as  these  ! " 

At  this  moment,  it  is  said,  Strafford  had  been  closely 
and  earnestly  watching  Pym,  when  the  latter,  suddenly 
turning,  met  the  fixed  and  wasted  features  of  his  early 
associate.  A  rush  of  other  feelings  crowding  into  that 
look,  for  a  moment  dispossessed  him.  "  His  papers,  he 
looked  on,"  says  Baillie,  "  but  they  could  not  help  him 
to  a  point  or  two,  so  he  behoved  to  pass  them."  But 
a  moment,  and  Pym's  eloquence  and  dignified  com- 
mand returned.  He  had  thoroughly  contemplated  his 
commission,  and  had  resolved  on  its  fulfilment.  The 
occasion  was  not  let  slip,  the  energies  wound  up  to  this 
feat  through  years  of  hard  endurance  were  not  frozen, — 
and  the  cause  of  the  people  was  gained.  In  the  condem- 
nation of  Strafford,  they  resumed  an  alienated  power, 
and  were  re-instated  in  an  ancient  freedom. 

He  was  condemned.  The  judges  themselves,  on  a 
solemn  reference  by  the  house  of  lords  for  their  opinion, 
whether  some  of  the  articles  amounted  to  treason, 
answered  unanimously  that  upon  all  which  their  lord- 
ships had  voted  to  be  proved,  it  was  their  opinion  the 
earl  of  Strafford  did  deserve  to  undergo  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  high  treason  by  law. 

Meanwhile,  before  this  opinion  was  taken,  the  com- 
mons had  changed  their  course,  and  introduced  a  bill  of 
attainder.     This  has  been  sorely  reproached  to  them, 


264  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

and  one  or  two  of  the  men  who  had  acted  with  them  up 
to  this  point  now  receded.  Lord  Digby  was  the 
principal  of  these.  "Truly,  sir,"  he  said,  on  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  bill,  **  I  am  still  the  same  in  my  opinions 
and  affections,  as  unto  the  earl  of  Strafford.  I  con- 
fidently believe  him  to  be  the  most  dangerous  minister, 
the  most  insupportable  to  free  subjects,  that  can  be 
charactered.  I  believe  his  practices  in  themselves  as 
high,  as  tyrannical,  as  any  subject  ever  ventured  on  ;  and 
the  malignity  of  them  hugely  aggravated  by  those  rare 
abilities  of  his,  whereof  God  had  given  him  the  use,  but 
the  devil  the  application.  In  a  word,  I  believe  him  to 
be  still  that  grand  apostate  to  the  commonwealth,  who 
must  not  expect  to  be  pardoned  in  this  world,  till  he  be 
dispatched  to  the  other.  And  yet,  let  me  tell  you,  Mr. 
Speaker,  my  hand  must  not  be  to  that  dispatch.  I  pro- 
test, as  my  conscience  stands  informed,  I  had  rather  it 
were  off!"  The  authority  of  Digby  in  this  affair,  how- 
ever, may  well  be  questioned,  since  it  has  been  proved 
that  he  had  at  this  time  entered  into  an  intrigue  to  save 
the  life  of  the  prisoner,  and  though  he  spoke  against  the 
bill  with  extreme  earnestness,  he  at  the  same  time  no 
less  earnestly  offered  to  swear,  that  he  knew  nothing  of 
a  certain  copy  of  important  notes  which  had  been  lost, 
though  they  were  afterwards  found  in  his  handwriting,  in 
the  royal  cabinet  taken  at  Naseby,  and  it  turned  out  that 
having  access  to  them,  as  a  member  of  the  impeachment 
committee,  he  had  stolen  them.^ 

The  bill  of  attainder  was  passed  on  the  21st  of  April. 

While  on  its  way  to  the  lords,  the  king  went  to  that 

house  and  addressed  them.     "I  am  sure,"  he  said,  "  you 

all  know  that  I  have  been  present  at  the  hearing  of  this 

^  See  Whitelocke,  p.  43. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  265 

great  case  from  the  one  end  to  the  other ;  and  I  must 
tell  you,  that  I  cannot  in  my  conscience  condemn  him 
of  high  treason  : — it  is  not  fit  for  me  to  argue  the  busi- 
ness ;  I  am  sure  you  will  not  expect  that ;  a  positive 
doctrine  best  becomes  the  mouth  of  a  prince."  After 
beseeching  them  not  to  treat  the  earl  with  severity,  he 
thus  concluded  : — "  I  must  confess,  for  matter  of  mis- 
demeanors, I  am  so  clear  in  that,  that  though  I  will  not 
chalk  out  the  way,  yet  let  me  tell  you,  that  I  do  think 
my  lord  Strafford  is  not  fit  hereafter  to  serve  me  or  the 
commonwealth  in  any  place  of  trust,  no,  not  so  much  as 
that  of  a  constable.  Therefore,  I  leave  it  to  you,  my 
lords,  to  find  some  such  way  as  to  bring  me  out  of  this 
great  strait,  and  keep  ourselves  and  the  kingdom  from 
such  inconveniences.  Certainly  he  that  thinks  him 
guilty  of  high  treason  in  his  conscience  may  condemn 
him  of  misdemeanor." 

When  Strafford  heard  in  his  prison  of  this  intended 
interference,  he  had  earnestly  protested  against  it,  and, 
on  learning  that  the  step  was  actually  taken,  he  gave 
himself  up  for  lost.^  He  had  judged  truly.  The  leaders 
of  the  commons  took  advantage  of  the  occasion  it  offered. 
The  presbyterian  pulpits  of  the  following  day,  which 
happened  to  be  Sunday,  sent  forth  into  every  quarter  of 
London,  cries  of  "justice  upon  the  great  delinquent;" 
and  on  the  succeeding  morning,  furious  multitudes, 
variously  armed,  thronged  the  approaches  to  the  house 
of  lords;  placarded  as  "  Strafifordians,  or  betrayers  of 
their  country,"  the  names  of  those  commoners  who  had 
voted  against  the  attainder;  and  shouted  openly  for  the 
blood  of  Strafford. 

Pym,  meanwhile,  had  discovered  and  crushed  a  con- 
^  Clarendon  and  Radcliffe. 


266  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

spiracy  for  his  release,  which  had  originated  in  the  court, 
and  was  disclosed  by  the  inviolable  fidelity  of  the 
governor  of  the  Tower. 

No  hope  remained.  The  lords,  proceeding  upon  the 
judicial  opinion  I  have  named,  passed  the  bill  of  attainder, 
voting  upon  the  articles  judicially,  and  not  as  if  they 
were  enacting  a  legislative  measure. 

The  earl  of  Strafford,  with  a  generosity  worthy  of  his 
intellect,  now  wrote  to  the  king  and  released  him  from 
his  pledged  word.  "  To  say,  sir,"  he  wrote  in  the  course 
of  this  memorable  letter,  "  that  there  hath  not  been  a 
strife  in  me,  were  to  make  me  less  man  than,  God 
knoweth,  my  infirmities  make  me ;  and  to  call  a  destruc- 
tion upon  myself  and  my  young  children  (where  the 
intentions  of  my  heart  at  least  have  been  innocent  of 
this  great  offence),  may  be  believed,  will  find  no  easy 
consent  from  flesh  and  blood."  Its  concluding  passages 
ran  thus : — "  So  now,  to  set  your  majesty's  conscience 
at  liberty,  I  do  most  humbly  beseech  your  majesty,  for 
prevention  of  evils  which  may  happen  by  your  refusal 
to  pass  this  bill,  and  by  this  means  to  remove,  praised 
be  God,  (I  cannot  say  this  accursed,  but,  I  confess), 
this  unfortunate  thing,  forth  of  the  way  towards  that 
blessed  agreement,  which  God,  I  trust,  shall  ever  es- 
tablish between  you  and  your  subjects.  Sir,  my  con- 
sent shall  more  acquit  you  herein  to  God,  than  all  the 
world  can  do  besides.  To  a  willing  man  there  is  no 
injury  done.  And  as,  by  God's  grace,  I  forgive  all  the 
world  with  a  calmness  and  meekness  of  infinite  content- 
ment to  my  dislodging  soul,  so,  sir,  to  you  I  can  give  the 
life  of  this  world,  with  all  the  cheerfulness  imaginable, 
in  the  just  acknowledgment  of  your  exceeding  favours, 
and  only  beg,  that  in  your  goodness  you  would  vouchsafe 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  267 

to  cast  your  gracious  regard  upon  my  poor  son  and  his 
three  sisters,  less  or  more,  and  no  otherwise,  than  as 
their  (in  present)  unfortunate  father  may  hereafter  appear 
more  or  less  guilty  of  this  death." 

The  singular  note  which  has  been  preserved  by  Burnet, 
and  which  relates  circumstances  taken  from  the  lips  of 
Hollis  himself,  continues  the  deep  interest  of  this  tragic 
history  : — "  The  earl  of  Strafford  had  married  his  sister  : 
so,  though  in  the  parliament  he  was  one  of  the  hottest 
men  of  the  party,  yet  when  that  matter  was  before  them, 
he  always  withdrew.  When  the  bill  of  attainder  was 
passed,  the  king  sent  for  him,  to  know  what  he  could  do 
to  save  the  earl  of  Strafford.  Hollis  answered  that,  if 
the  king  pleased,  since  the  execution  of  the  law  was  in 
him,  he  might  legally  grant  him  a  reprieve,  which  must 
be  good  in  law; — but  he  would  not  advise  it.  That 
which  he  proposed  was,  that  lord  Strafford  should  send 
him  a  petition  for  a  short  respite,  to  settle  his  affairs,  and 
to  prepare  for  death,  upon  which  he  advised  the  king  to 
come  next  day  with  the  petition  in  his  hands,  and  lay  it 
before  the  two  houses,  with  a  speech  which  he  drew  for 
the  king,  and  Hollis  said  to  him,  he  would  try  his  interest 
among  his  friends  to  get  them  to  consent  to  it.  He 
prepared  a  great  many  by  assuring  them  that,  if  they 
would  save  lord  Strafford,  he  would  become  wholly 
theirs  in  consequence  of  his  first  principles,  and  that  he 
might  do  them  much  more  service  by  being  preserved, 
than  he  could  do  if  made  an  example  upon  such  new 
and  doubtful  points.  In  this  he  had  wrought  on  so 
many,  that  he  believed  if  the  king's  party  had  struck  into 
it  he  might  have  saved  him."  ^ 

While  the  party  thus  prepared  to  second  Hollis  waited 
^  Own  Time,  book  i. 


268  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

their  time,  the  king  suddenly  resorted  to  a  different 
scheme,  and,  having  with  tears  in  his  eyes  signed  the 
commission  for  giving  assent  to  the  bill,  declaring  at  the 
same  time,  that  Strafford's  condition  was  happier  than 
his  own,  sent  the  lords  a  letter,  written  by  his  own  hand, 
and,  as  a  further  proof  of  his  deep  interest,  with  the 
young  prince  of  Wales  as  its  messenger.  "  I  did  yester- 
day," ran  this  letter,  "  satisfy  the  justice  of  the  kingdom, 
by  passing  the  bill  of  attainder  against  the  earl  of 
Strafford ;  but  mercy  being  as  inherent  and  inseparable 
to  a  king  as  justice,  I  desire  at  this  time,  in  some 
me-isure,  to  show  that  likewise,  by  suffering  that  unfortu- 
nate man  to  fulfil  the  natural  course  of  his  life  in  a  close 
imprisonment.  Yet  so,  if  ever  he  make  the  least  offer  to 
escape,  or  offer  directly  or  indirectly  to  meddle  in  any 
sort  of  public  business,  especially  with  me,  either  by 
message  or  letter,  it  shall  cost  him  his  life  without 
farther  process.  This,  if'  it  may  be  done  without  the 
discontentment  of  my  people,  will  be  an  unspeakable 
contentment  to  me.  To  which  end,  as  in  the  first  place, 
I  by  this  letter  do  earnestly  desire  your  approbation,  and, 
to  endear  it  more,  have  chose  him  to  carry  it,  that  of 
all  your  house  is  most  dear  to  me.  So  I  desire,  that  by 
a  conference  you  will  endeavour  to  give  the  house  of 
commons  contentment,  assuring  you  that  the  exercise  of 
mercy  is  no  more  pleasing  to  me,  than  to  see  both  houses 
of  parliament  consent,  for  my  sake,  that  I  should 
moderate  the  severity  of  the  law  in  so  important  a  case. 
I  will  not  say,  that  your  complying  with  me  in  this  my 
intended  mercy  shall  make  me  more  willing,  but  certainly 
't  will  make  me  more  cheerful,  in  granting  your  just 
grievances.  But  if  no  less  than  his  life  can  satisfy  my 
people,  I  must  S2iy—fiat  justitia.     Thus  again,  recom- 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  269 

mending  the  consideration  of  my  intention  to  you,  I 
rest."  -The  following  was  added  as  a  postscript : — 
'"''  If  he  must  die,  it  were  charity  to  reprieve  him  until 
Saturday.''^ 

Hollis's  scheme  was  now  thoroughly  defeated,  and 
death  secured  to  Strafford.  This  pitiable  letter  ended 
all.  It  is  a  sorry  office  to  plant  the  foot  on  a  worm  so 
crushed  and  writhing  as  the  wretched  king  who  signed 
it,  for  it  was  one  of  the  few  crimes  of  which  he  was  in 
the  event  thoroughly  sensible,  and  friend  has  for  once 
co-operated  with  foe  in  the  steady  application  to  it  of  the 
branding  iron.  There  is  in  truth  hardly  any  way  of 
relieving  the  "  damned  spot  "  of  its  intensity  of  hue,  even 
by  distributing  the  concentrated  infamy  over  other  por- 
tions of  Charles's  character.  The  reader  who  has  gone 
through  the  preceding  details  of  Strafford's  life  can  surely 
not  suggest  any.  For  when  we  have  convinced  ourselves 
that  this  "  unthankful  king  "  never  really  loved  Strafford  ; 
that,  as  much  as  in  him  lay,  he  kept  the  dead  Bucking- 
ham in  his  old  privilege  of  mischief,  by  adopting  his 
aversions  and  abiding  by  his  spleenful  purposes ;  that, 
in  his  refusals  to  award  those  increased  honours  for 
which  his  minister  was  a  petitioner,  on  the  avowed 
ground  of  the  royal  interest,  may  be  discerned  the  petty 
triumph  of  one  who  dares  not  dispense  with  the  services 
thrust  upon  him,  but  revenges  himself  by  withholding 
their  well-earned  reward  ; — still  does  the  blackness  accu- 
mulate to  baffle  our  efforts.  The  paltry  tears  he  is  said 
to  have  shed  only  burn  that  blackness  in.  If  his  after 
conduct  indeed  had  been  different,  he  might  have  availed 
himself  of  one  excuse,— but  that  the  man,  who,  in  a  few 
short  months,  proved  that  he  could  make  so  resolute  a 
stand   somewhere,  should   have  judged   this   event   no 


2  70  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

occasion  for  attempting  it,  is  either  a  crowning  infamy  or 
an  infinite  consolation,  according  as  we  may  judge 
wickedness  or  weakness  to  have  preponderated,  in  the 
constitution  of  Charles  I. 

Sufficient  has  been  said  to  vindicate  these  remarks 
from  any,  the  remotest,  intention  of  throwing  doubt  on 
the  perfect  justice  of  that  bill  of  attainder.  Bills  of 
attainder  had  not  been  uncommon  in  England  \  are  the 
same  in  principle  as  the  ordinary  bills  of  pains  and 
penalties ;  and  the  resort  to  that  principle  in  the  present 
case,  arose  from  no  failure  of  the  impeachment,  as  has 
been  frequently  alleged  i,  but  because,  in  the  course  of 
that  impeachment,  circumstances  arose,  which  suggested 
to  the  great  leader  of  the  popular  cause  the  greater  safety 
of  fixing  this  case  upon  wider  and  more  special  grounds. 
Without  stretching  to  the  slightest  extent  the  boundaries  of 
any  statute,  they  thought  it  better  at  once  to  bring  Straf- 
ford's treason  to  the  condemnation  of  the  sources  of  all 
law.  In  this  view  it  is  one  of  their  wisest  achievements  that 
has  been  brought  within  the  most  hasty  and  ill-considered 
censure— their  famous  proviso  that  the  attainder  should 
not  be  acted  upon  by  the  judges  as  a  precedent  in  deter- 
mining the  crime  of  treason.  As  to  Strafford's  death, 
the  remark  that  the  people  had  no  alternative,  includes 
all  that  it  is  necessary  to  urge.  The  king's  assurances 
of  his  intention  to  afford  him  no  further  opportunity  of 
crime,  could  surely  weigh  nothing  with  men  who  had 
observed  how  an  infinitely  more  disgusting  minister  of 
his  will  had  only  seemed  to  rise  the  higher  in  his  master's 
estimation  for  the  accumulated  curses  of  the  nation. 
Nothing  but  the  knife  of  Felton  could  sever  in  that  case 

^  The  judges  and  peers  voted  judicially  even  on  the  bill,  as  has 
been  already  stated. 


BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  27 1 

the  weak  head  and  the  wicked  instrument,  and  it  is  to 
the  honour  of  the  adversaries  of  Strafford  that  they  were 
earnest  that  their  cause  should  vindicate  itself  completely, 
and  look  for  no  adventitious  redress.  Strafford  had 
outraged  the  people — this  was  not  denied.  He  was 
defended  on  the  ground  of  those  outrages  not  amounting 
to  a  treason  against  the  king.  For  my  own  part,  this 
defence  appears  to  me  decisive,  looking  at  it  in  a 
technical  view,  and  with  our  present  settlement  of  evi- 
dence and  treason.  But  to  concede  that  point,  after  the 
advances  they  had  made,  would  have  been  in  that  day 
to  concede  all.  It  was  to  be  shown  that  another  power 
had  claim  to  the  loyalty  and  the  service  of  Strafford — 
and  if  a  claim,  then  a  vengeance  to  exact  for  its  neglect. 
And  this  was  done. 

Nor  should  the  subject  be  quitted  without  the  remark, 
that  the  main  principle  contended  for  by  Pym  and  his 
associates  was,  at  the  last,  fully  submitted  to  by  Strafford. 
He  allowed  the  full  power  of  the  people's  assembly  to 
take  cognizance  of  his  deeds  and  to  dispose  of  his  life, 
while  most  earnestly  engaged  in  defending  the  former 
and  preserving  the  latter.  Now  the  calm  and  magnani- 
mous patience  of  Strafford  was  very  compatible  with  a 
fixed  denial  of  the  authority  of  his  judges,  had  that 
appeared  contestible  in  his  eyes, — but  we  find  no  in- 
timation of  such  a  disposition.  He  would  not  have  the 
parliament's  punishment  precede  promulgation  of  a  law; " 
he  pleads  that  "  to  be  punished  by  a  law  subseqiTent  to 
the  fact  is  extreme  hard;"  and  that  "it  is  hard  that 
there  should  be  no  token  set  by  which  we  should  know 
this  offence,  no  admonition  by  which  we  should  avoid 
it ; "  and  he  is  desirous  that  "  a  precedent  may  not  be 
derived  from  one  so  disadvantageous  as  this  ;  " — but,  in 


272  BROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

the  mean  time,  the  cause  is  gained,  the  main  and 
essential  point  is  given  up  !  The  old  boasts  of  the  lord 
lieutenant's  being  accountable  to  the  king  alone,  of  the 
king's  will  being  the  one  and  the  only  law  of  his  service, 
are  no  longer  heard.  It  may  be  said  that  a  motive  of 
prudence  withheld  Strafford  from  indignantly  appealing 
to  the  king  in  his  lurking  place,  from  the  unrecognised 
array  of  questioners  and  self  constituted  inquisitors,  who 
had  taken  upon  themselves  to  supersede  him, — but  when 
the  sentence  was  passed  and  its  execution  at  hand,  when 
hope  was  gone  and  the  end  rapidly  hastening,  we  still 
find  Strafford  offering  nothing  against  the  right. 

One  momentary  emotion,  not  inconsistent  with  his 
letter  to  the  king,  escaped  him  when  he  was  told  to 
prepare  for  death.  He  asked  if  the  king  had  indeed 
assented  to  the  bill.  Secretary  Carleton  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  and  Strafford,  laying  his  hand  on  his  heart, 
and  raising  his  eyes  to  heaven,  uttered  the  memorable 
words, — "  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes,  nor  in  the  sons 
of  men,  for  in  them  there  is  no  salvation."  Charles's 
conduct  was  indeed  incredibly  monstrous. 

Three  days  more  of  existence  were  granted  to  Strafford, 
which  he  employed  calmly  in  the  arrangement  of  his 
affairs.  He  wrote  a  petition  to  the  house  of  lords  to 
have  compassion  on  his  innocent  children  ;  addressed  a 
letter  to  his  wife  bidding  her  affectionately  to  support 
her  courage ;  and  accompanied  it  with  a  letter  of  final 
instru(?tion  and  advice  to  his  eldest  son.  This  is  in  all 
respects  deeply  touching : — "  My  dearest  Will,"  he 
wrote,  "  These  are  the  last  Hues  that  you  are  to  receive 
from  a  father  that  tenderly  loves  you.  I  wish  there  were 
a  greiter  leisure  to  impart  my  mind  unto  you,  but  our 
merciful   God  will  supply  all  things  by  his  grace,  and 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


273 


guide  and  protect  you  in  all  your  ways,— to  whose  in- 
finite goodness  I  bequeath  you.  And  therefore  be  not 
discouraged,  but  serve  him,  and  trust  in  him,  and  he  will 
preserve  and  prosper  you  in  all  things.  Be  sure  you  give 
all  respect  to  my  wife,  that  hath  ever  had  a  great  love 
unto  you,  and  therefore  will  be  well  becoming  you. 
Never  be  awanting  in  your  love  and  care  to  your  sisters, 
but  let  them  ever  be  most  dear  unto  you  :— for,  this  will 
give  others  cause  to  esteem  and  respect  you  for  it,  and  is 
a  duty  that  you  owe  them  in  the  memory  of  your  ex- 
cellent mother  and  myself;  therefore  your  care  and 
affection  to  them  must  be  the  very  same  that  you  are  to 
have  of  your  self;  and  the  like  regard  must  you  have  to 
your  youngest  sister ;  for  indeed  you  owe  it  her  also,  both 
for  her  father  and  mother's  sake.  Sweet  Will,  be  careful 
to  take  the  advice  of  those  friends,  which  are  by  me 
desired  to  advise  you  for  your  education."  And  so  the 
tenderness  of  the  father  proceeds  through  many  fond 
and  affectionate  charges.  With  characteristic  hope  he 
says — "  The  king  I  trust  will  deal  graciously  with  you, 
and  restore  you  those  honours  and  that  fortune,  which  a 
distempered  time  hath  deprived  you  of,  together  with 
the  life  of  your  father."  Advice  is  next  given  to  meet 
the  occurrence  of  such  a  chance.  "  Be  sure  to  avoid  as 
much  as  you  can  to  enquire  after  those  that  have  been 
sharp  in  their  judgments  towards  me,  and  I  charge  you 
never  to  suffer  thought  of  revenge  to  enter  your  heart ; 
but  be  careful  to  be  informed,  who  were  my  friends  in 
this  prosecution,  and  to  them  apply  yourself  to  make 
them  your  friends  also ;  and  on  such  you  may  rely,  and 
bestow  much  of  your  conversation  amongst  them.  And 
God  almighty  of  his  infinite  goodness  bless  you  and  your 
children's  children ;  and  his  same  goodness  bless  your 

T 


274  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

sisters  in  like  manner,  perfect  you  in  every  good  work, 

and  give  you  right  understandings  in  all  things.     Amen. 

Your  most  loving  father,  Thomas  Wentworth."  i 

At  one  time,  probably,  a  deeper  pang  would  have  been 

involved  to  Strafford  in  this  affecting  surrender  of  his 

cherished  title,  than  in  that  of  existence  itself     But  this 

was  not  the  time.     Nothing  but  concern  for  his  family 

and  friends  disturbed  the  composure  of  his  remaining 

hours.     He  wrote  kind  and  encouraging  letters  to  "dear 

George,"  as  he  called  sir  George  Radcliffe;  shed  tears 

for  the  death  of  Wandesford,  whom  he  had  entrusted 

with  the   care  of  his  government  and  family,  but  who 

broke  his  heart  on  hearing  of  the  sad   events  that  had 

fallen  on  his  patron ;  and  requested  of  the  primate  of 

Ireland  (Usher),  who  attended  him,  to  desire  "my  lord's 

Grace  of  Canterbury,"  his  old  friend,  the  now  imprisoned 

and  afflicted  Laud,  "to  lend  me  his  prayers  this  night 

and  to  give  me  his  blessing  when  I  go  abroad  to-morrow, 

and  to  be  in  his  window,  that,  by  my  last  farewell,  I  may 

give   him   thanks    for   this,   and    all    other,    his    former 

favours."     He  had  previously  asked  the  lieutenant  of  the 

Tower  if  it  were  possible  to  have  an  interview  with  Laud, 

adding   with    playful   sarcasm,    "  You    shall   hear   what 

passes  betwixt  us.     It  is  not  a  time  either  for  him  to 

^  Strafford  Papers,  vol.  ii.  p.  416,  The  letter  bears  date  the  nth 
of  May,  1641,  and  has  the  following  postscript: — "You  must  not 
fail  to  behave  yourself  towards  my  lady  Clare,  your  grandmother, 
with  all  duty  and  observance  ;  for  most  tenderly  doth  she  love  you, 
and  hath  been  passing  kind  unto  me.  God  reward  her  charity  for 
it.  And  both  in  this  and  all  the  rest,  the  same  that  I  counsel  you, 
the  same  do  I  direct  also  to  your  sisters,  that  so  the  same  may  be 
observed  by  you  all.  And  once  more  do  I,  from  my  very  soul, 
beseech  our  gracious  God  to  bless  and  govern  you  in  all,  to  the 
saving  you  in  the  day  of  his  visitation,  and  join  us  again  in  the 
communion  of  his  blessed  saints,  where  is  fulness  of  joy  and  bliss  for 
evermore.  Amen,  Amen."  The  "youngest  sister"  was  the  infant 
of  lady  Strafford. 


B-ROWNINCS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD.  275 

plot  heresy,  or  me  to  plot  treason."  The  lieutenant  in 
reply  suggested  a  petition  to  the  parliament.  "No," 
was  the  quiet  rejoinder.  "  I  have  gotten  my  despatch 
from  them,  and  will  trouble  them  no  more.  I  am  now 
petitioning  a  higher  court,  where  neither  partiality  can 
be  expected,  nor  error  feared." 

Laud,  old  and  feeble,  staggered  to  the  window  of  his 
cell  as  Strafford  passed  on  the  following  morning,  and, 
as  he  lifted  his  hands  to  bestow  the  blessing  his  lips  were 
unable  to  utter,  fell  back  and  fainted  in  the  arms  of  his 
attendant. 

Strafford  moved  on  to  the  scaffold  with  undisturbed 
composure.  His  body,  so  soon  to  be  released,  had  given 
him  a  respite  of  its  infirmities  for  that  trying  hour. 
Rushworth,  the  clerk  of  the  parliament,  was  one  of  the 
spectators,  and  has  minutely  described  the  scene. 
"  When  he  arrived  outside  the  Tower,  the  lieutenant 
desired  him  to  take  coach  at  the  gate,  lest  the  enraged 
mob  should  tear  him  in  pieces.  '  No,'  said  he,  '  Mr. 
Lieutenant,  I  dare  look  death  in  the  face,  and  the  people 
too ;  have  you  a  care  I  do  not  escape ;  't  is  equal  to  me 
how  I  die,  whether  by  the  stroke  of  the  executioner,  or 
by  the  madness  and  fury  of  the  people,  if  that  may  give 
them  better  content.'"  Not  less  than  100,000  persons, 
who  had  crowded  in  from  all  parts,  were  visible  on 
Tower-hill,  in  a  long  and  dark  perspective.  Strafford,  in 
his  walk,  took  off  his  hat  frequently,  and  saluted  them, 
and  received  not  a  word  of  insult  or  reproach.  His  step 
and  manner  are  described  by  Rushworth  to  have  been 
those  of  "  a  general  marching  at  the  head  of  an  army,  to 
breathe  victory,  rather  than  those  of  a  condemned  man, 
to  undergo  the  sentence  of  death."  At  his  side,  upon 
the  scaffold,  stood  his  brother,  sir  George  Wentworth, 


276  BROWNINGS  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

the  bishop  of  Armagh,  the  earl  of  Cleveland,  and  others 
of  his  friends, — and  behind  them  the  indefatigable 
collector  Rushworth,  who  "being  then  there  on  the 
scaffold  with  him,"  as  he  says,  took  down  the  speech 
which,  having  asked  their  patience  first,  Strafford  at  some 
length  addressed  to  the  people.  He  declared  the  inno- 
cence of  his  intentions,  whatever  might  have  been  the 
construction  of  his  acts,  and  said  that  the  prosperity  of 
his  country  was  his  fondest  wish.  But  it  augured  ill,  he 
told  them,  for  the  people's  happiness,  to  write  the  com- 
mencement of  a  reformation  in  letters  of  blood.  "  One 
thing  I  desire  to  be  heard  in,"  he  added,  "and  do  hope 
that  for  Christian  charity's  sake  I  shall  be  believed.  I 
was  so  far  from  being  against  parliaments,  that  I  did 
always  think  parUaments  in  England  to  be  the  happy 
constitution  of  the  kingdom  and  nation,  and  the  best 
means,  under  God,  to  make  the  king  and  his  people 
happy."  1 

He  then  turned  to  take  leave  of  the  friends  who  had 
accompanied  him  to  the  scaffold.  He  beheld  his  brother 
weeping  excessively.  "  Brother,"  he  said,  "  what  do  you 
see  in  me  to  cause  these  tears  ?  Does  any  innocent  fear 
betray  in  me — guilt?  or  my  innocent  boldness — atheism? 
Think  that  you  are  now  accompanying  me  the  fourth 
tim.e  to  ray  marriage  bed.  That  block  must  be  my 
pillow,  and  here  I  shall  rest  from  all  my  labours.  No 
thoughts  of  envy,  no  dreams  of  treason,  nor  jealousies, 
nor  cares,  for  the  king,  the  state,  or  myself,  shall  interrupt 
this  easy  sleep.  Remember  me  to  my  sister,  and  to  my 
wife  \  and  carry  my  blessing  to  my  eldest  son,  and  to 

^  The  paper  of  minutes  from  wliich  he  had  spoken  this  speech, 
was  afterwards  found  lying  on  the  scaffold,  and  was  printed  by 
Rushworth,  vol.  viii.  p.  761.     See  Appendix  to  this  Memoir. 


BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 


277 


Ann,  and  Arabella,  not  forgetting  my  little  infant,  that 
knows  neither  good  nor  evil,  and  cannot  speak  for  itself. 
God  speak  for  it,  and  bless  it ! "  While  undressing 
himself,  and  winding  his  hair  under  a  cap,  he  said, 
looking  on  the  block — "  I  do  as  cheerfully  put  off  my 
doublet  at  this  time  as  ever  I  did  when  I  went  to 
bed." 

"Then,"  proceeds  Rushworth,  closing  this  memorable 
scene,  "  then  he  called,  '  Where  is  the  man  that  shall  do 
this  last  office  (meaning  the  executioner)?  call  him  to 
me.'  When  he  came  and  asked  him  forgiveness,  he  told 
him  he  forgave  him  and  all  the  world.  Then  kneeling 
down  by  the  block,  he  went  to  prayer  again  by  himself, 
the  bishop  of  Armagh  kneeling  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
minister  on  the  other ;  to  the  which  minister  after  prayer 
he  turned  himself,  and  spoke  some  icw  words  softly; 
having  his  hands  lifted  up,  the  minister  closed  his  hands 
with  his.  Then  bowing  himself  to  the  earth,  to  lay  down 
his  head  on  the  block,  he  told  the  executioner  that  he 
would  first  lay  down  his  head  to  try  the  fitness  of  the 
block,  and  take  it  up  again,  before  he  laid  it  down  for 
good  and  all ;  and  so  he  did ;  and  before  he  laid  it  down 
again  he  told  the  executioner  that  he  would  give  him 
warning  when  to  strike,  by  stretching  forth  his  hands; 
and  then  he  laid  down  his  neck  on  the  block,  stretching 
out  his  hands  ;  the  executioner  struck  oif  his  head  at  one 
blow,  then  took  the  head  up  in  his  hand,  and  showed  it 
to  all  the  people,  and  said,  '  God  save  the  king  ! '  " 

Thus,  on  Wednesday,  the  12th  of  May,  1641,  died 
Thomas  Wentworth,  the  first  earl  of  Strafford.  Within 
a  few  weeks  of  his  death,  the  parliament  mitigated  the 
most  severe  consequences  of  their  punishment  to  his 
children ;  and,  in  the  succeeding  reign,  the  attainder  was 


278  BROWNING'S  LIFE   OF  STRAFFORD. 

reversed,  the  proceedings  obliterated,  and  his  son  restored 
to  the  earldom. 

A  great  lesson  is  written  in  the  life  of  this  truly  ex- 
traordinary person.  In  the  career  of  Strafford  is  to  be 
sought  the  justification  of  the  world's  "appeal  from 
tyranny  to  God."  In  him  Despotism  had  at  length 
obtained  an  instrument  with  mind  to  comprehend,  and 
resolution  to  act  upon,  her  principles  in  their  length  and 
breadth, — and  enough  of  her  purposes  were  effected  by 
him,  to  enable  mankind  to  see  "as  from  a  tower  the  end 
of  all."  I  cannot  discern  one  false  step  in  Strafford's 
public  conduct,  one  glimpse  of  a  recognition  of  an  alien 
principle,  one  instance  of  a  dereliction  of  the  law  of  his 
being,  which  can  come  in  to  dispute  the  decisive  result 
of  the  experiment,  or  explain  away  its  failure.  The  least 
vivid  fancy  will  have  no  difficulty  in  taking  up  the  inter- 
rupted design,  and  by  wholly  enfeebling,  or  materially 
emboldening,  the  insignificant  nature  of  Charles,  and  by 
according  some  half  dozen  years  of  immunity  to  the 
"fretted  tenement"  of  Strafford's  *' fiery  soul," — con- 
template then,  for  itself,  the  perfect  reaHsation  of  the 
scheme  of  "  making  the  prince  the  most  absolute  lord  in 
Christendom."  That  done, — let  it  pursue  the  same 
course  with  respect  to  Eliot's  noble  imaginings,  or  to 
young  Vane's  dreamy  aspirings,  and  apply  in  like  manner 
a  fit  machinery  to  the  working  out  the  projects  which 
made  the  dungeon  of  the  one  a  holy  place,  and  sustained 
the  other  in  his  self-imposed  exile. — The  result  is  great 
and  decisive  !  It  estabhshes,  in  renewed  force,  those 
principles  of  political  conduct  which  have  endured,  and 
must  continue  to  endure,  "  like  truth  from  age  to  age." 


APPENDIX    [I.] 

TO   THE 

LIFE   OF  THE   EARL   OF   STRAFFORD. 


HUMBLE     OPINION     CONCERNING     A     PARLIAMENT    IN    THIS 
YOUR    majesty's    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND. 


Charles  R. 
Sections  i,  2,  3,  4,  5.  Upon 
these  reasons  alledged  by  you,  and 
the  confidence  which  we  have  that 
you  have  well  weighed  all  the  cir- 
cumstances mentioned  by  you,  or 
otherwise  necessary  to  the  calling 
of  a  parliament ;  and  especially 
relying  upon  your  faith  and  dex- 
terity in  managing  so  great  a 
work  for  the  good  of  our  service  ; 
we  are  fully  persuaded  to  conde- 
scend to  the  present  calling  of  a 
parlia??ient ;  which  accordingly 
we  authorise  and  require  yoti  to 
do,  and  therein  to  make  use  of  all 
the  motives  you  here  propound. 


I.  Albeit  the  calling  of  a  par- 
liament in  this  kingdom  is  at  no 
time  of  so  much  hazard,  where 
nothing  is  propounded  as  a  law 
before  it  first  borrow  motion  from 
your  majesty's  immediate  allow- 
ance under  your  great  seal,  as  it 
is  in  England,  where  there  is  a 
liberty  assumed  to  offer  every 
thing  in  their  own  time  and 
order ;  and  this  subordination, 
whereunto  they  have  been  led  by 
the  wisdom  of  former  times,  is 
ever  to  be  held  as  a  sacred  pre- 
rogative, not  to  be  departed  from, 
in  no  piece  to  be  broken  or  in- 
fringed.    Yet  is  the  proposition 


always  weighty — very  necessary 
to  be  considered  with  great  deliberation — whether  the  present  con- 
juncture of  affairs  doth  now  advise  a  parliament  or  no?  And,  after 
a  serious  discourse  with  myself,  my  reason  persuades  me  for  the 
assembling  thereof. 

2.  For,  the  contribution  from  the  country  towards  the  army 
ending  in  December  next,  your  majesty's  revenue  falls  short  twenty 
thousand  pounds  sterling  by  the  year  of  the  present  charge  it  is 
burthened  withal,  besides  the  vast  debt  of  fourscore  thousand 
pounds,  Irish,  upon  the  crown  ;  which  yearly  payments,  alone,  are 
impossible  by  any  other  ordinary  way  to  be  in  time  supplied,  but  by 
the  subject  in  parliament ;  and  to  pass  to  the  extraordinary,  before 
there  be  at  least  an  attempt  first  to  efifect  it  with  ease,  were  to  love 


28o  APPENDIX  I. 

difficulties  too  well,  rather  voluntarily  to  seek  them,  than  unwill- 
ingly to  meet  them,  and  might  seem  as  w  11  vanity  in  the  first 
respect  so  to  affect  them,  as  faintness  to  bow  under  them,  when 
they  are  not  to  be  avoided. 

3.  The  next  inclination  thereunto  ariseth  in  me,  from  the  con- 
dition of  this  country,  grown  very  much  more  civil  and  rich  since 
the  access  of  your  royal  father  of  blessed  memory,  and  your  majesty 
to  the  crown  ;  that  all  you  have  here  is  issued  out  again  amongst 
them  for  their  protection  and  safety,  without  any  considerable  re- 
servation, for  other  the  great  affairs  and  expences  abroad  ;  that  this 
great  charge  is  sustained,  and  this  great  debt  contracted  through 
imployments  for  a  publick  good,  whereof  the  benefit  hitherto  hath 
been  intirely  theirs  ;  that  there  hath  been  but  one  subsidy  granted 
in  all  this  time,  nor  any  other  supply  but  this  contribution  ;  in 
exchange  whereof,  your  princely  bounty  returned  them  graces  as 
beneficial  to  this  subject  as  their  money  was  to  your  majesty  ;  so  as 
their  substance  having  been  so  increased  under  the  guard  of  your 
wisdom  and  justice,  so  little  issued  hence  from  them,  the  crown  so 
pressed,  only  for  their  good,  and  so  modest  a  calling  upon  them 
now  for  a  supply,  which  in  all  wisdom,  good  nature,  and  conscience, 
they  are  not  to  deny  ;  should  they  not  conform  themselves  to  your 
gracious  will,  their  unthankfulness  to  God,  and  the  best  of  kings, 
becomes  inexcusable  before  all  the  world,  and  the  regal  power 
more  warrantably  to  be  at  after  extended  for  redeeming  and 
recovering  your  majesty's  revenues  thus  lost,  and  justly  to  punish  so 
great  a  forfeit  as  this  must  needs  be  judged  to  be  in  them. 

4.  Next,  the  frightful  apprehension,  which  at  this  time  makes 
their  hearts  beat,  lest  the  quarterly  payments  towards  the  army, 
continued  now  almost  ten  years,  might  in  fine  turn  to  an  hereditary 
charge  upon  their  lands,  inclines  them  to  give  any  reasonable  thing 
in  present,  to  secure  themselves  of  that  fear  for  the  future  ;  and 
thei'efore,  according  to  the  wholesome  counsel  of  the  physician, — 
Dum  dolet  accipe. 

5.  And  lastly.  If  they  should  meanly  cast  from  them  these 
mighty  obligations,  which  indeed  I  cannot  fear,  your  majesty's 
affairs  can  never  suffer  less  by  their  starting  aside,  when  the  general 
peace  abroad  admits  a  more  united  power  in  your  majesty,  and  less 
distracted  thoughts  in  your  ministers,  to  chastise  such  a  forgetful- 
ness,  to  call  to  their  remembrance,  and  to  inforce  from  them  other 
and  better  duties  than  these. 

Sect.  6,  7,  8,  9.  We  appomt  .6.  In  the  second  place,  the 
the  time  of  the  meetmg  to  he  in  time  your  majesty  shall  in  your 
Tri7iity  term  next,  for  the  reasons  wisdom  appoint  for  this  meeting 
yoit  here  alledge.  imports  very  much  ;  which  with 

all  submission  I  should  advise, 
might  not  be  longer  put  off  than  Easter  or  Trinity  term  at  farthest ; 
and  I  shall  crave  leave  to  offer  my  reasons. 

7.  The  improvements  mentioned  in  my  dispatch  to  the  lord 
treasurer,  from  which  I  no  ways  recede,  would  not  be  foreslowed  ; 
wherein  we  lose  much  by  deferring  this  meeting ;  a  circumstance 


APPENDIX  I. 


2«I 


very  considerable  in  these  streights,  wherein,  if  surprised,  might  be 
of  much  disadvantage,  in  case  the  parliament  answer  not  expecta- 
tion ;  and  to  enter  upon  that  work  before,  would  be  an  argument 
for  them  to  scant  their  supply  to  your  majesty. 

8.  Again,  a  breach  of  parliament  would  prejudice  less  thus  than 
in  winter,  having  at  the  worst  six  months  to  turn  our  eyes  about, 
and  many  helps  to  be  gained  in  that  space  ;  where,  in  the  other 
case,  the  contribution  ending  in  December  next,  we  should  be  put 
upon  an  instant  of  time,  to  read  over  our  lesson  at  first  sight. 

9.  Then  the  calling  of  a  parliament,  and  determining  of  the 
quarterly  payments,  falling  out  much  upon  one,  might  make  them 
apprehend  there  was  a  necessity  enforcing  a  present  agreement,  if 
not  the  good  one  we  would,  yet  the  best  we  could  get,  and  so 
embolden  them  to  make  and  flatter  theinselves  to  gain  their  own 
conditions,  and  conditions  are  not  to  be  admitted  with  any  subjects, 
less  with  this  people,  where  your  majesty's  absolute  sovereignty  goes 
much  higher  than  it  is  taken,,  perhaps,  to  do  in  England. 


Sect.  10.  We  well  approve 
and  require  the  making  of  two 
sessions,  as  you  propose.  The 
first  to  be  held  in  sunwier  for  our 
own  supplies  ;  and  the  second  in 
winter,  for  passing  such  laws  and 
graces  only,  as  shall  be  allotved  by 
us.  But  this  intimation  of  two 
sessions,  we  think  not  fit  to  be 
imparted  to  any,  till  the  parlia- 
ment be  set.  And  further,  we 
zvill  admit  no  capittdations  nor 
demafids  of  any  assurance  under 
our  broad  seal,  nor  of  sending 
over  deputies  or  committees  to  treat 
here  zvith  us,  nor  of  any  restraint 
in  our  b.ll  of  S7ibsidies,  nor  of  any 
condition  of  not  maintaining  the 
army  ;  but  in  case  any  of  these  be 
insisted  upon,  and  that  they  will 


10.  And  lastly,  There  being 
some  of  your  majesty's  graces, 
which  being  passed  into  laws, 
might  be  of  great  prejudice  to 
the  crown  ;  and  yet  it  being  to 
be  feared  they  will  press  for  them 
all,  and  uncertain  what  humour 
the  denying  any  of  them  might 
move  in  their  minds,  I  conceive, 
under  favour,  it  would  be  much 
better  to  make  two  sessions  of  it, 
one  in  summer,  the  oiher  in 
winter  ;  in  the  former,  to  settle 
your  majesty's  supply,  and  in  the 
latter,  to  enact  so  many  of  those 
graces  as  in  honour  and  wisdom 
should  be  judged  equal,  when 
the  putting  aside  of  the  rest  might 
be  of  no  ill  consequence  to  other 
your  royal  purposes. 


not  otherwise  proceed  or  be  satisfied 
with  our  royal  promise  for  the  second  session,  or  shall  deny  or  delay 
the  passing  of  our  bills,  we  reqtdre  you  thereiipon  to  dissolve  the  par- 
liament;  and  forthwith  to  take  order  to  continue  the  contributions  for 
our  army,  and  tvithal  to  proceed  to  such  improvements  of  our  revemie 
as  are  already  in  proposition,  or  may  hereafter  be  thought  upon  for 
the  advantage  of  our  croxon. 


Sect.  II.  Concerning  the  short 
law  to  preserve  the  uttermost  bene- 
fit of  the  co7npositions  upon  con- 
cealments, and  the  plantations  of 
Cotmaght  and  Ormond,  %ve  like 
it  well,  if  you  can  obtain  it,  for 


II.  All  the  objections  I  am 
able  to  suggest  unto  myself,  are 
two  :  That  it  might  render  fruit- 
less the  intended  improvement 
upon  the  concealments,  and  pre- 
judice the   plantations   of  Con- 


282  APPENDIX  I. 

confirmation  of  what  yoii  have  naght  and  Ormond.  The  for- 
done,  or  shall  hereafter  do  about  mer  may  easily  be  helped  by  a 
those  businesses,  Biit  your  pro-  short  law,  propounded  in  my 
inising  of  such  a  law^  we  doubt,  dispatch  to  my  lord  treasurer  ; 
may  hitider  the  service,  and  cause  and  posito,  that  there  no  other 
them  to  be  satisfy  d  tvith  Clothing  law  pass  the  first  session  ;  the 
but  a  special  statute.  second    is    likewise    sufficiently 

secured. 
Sect.  12,  13,  14,  15.  For  12.  Then  it  is  to  be  foreseen, 
de77iands  to  be  made  for  tis,  we  what  your  majesty  will  demand, 
allow  your  propositions  in  these  how  induce  and  pursue  the  same, 
sections,  both  in  the  matter  and  in  for  the  happy  settlement  of  the 
the  form ;  only  the  last  clause,  regal  rights  and  powers  in  this 
which  giveth  hope  to  maintain  more  subordinate  kingdom. 
the  army  afterzvards  without  13.  My  humble  advice  is,  to 
further  charge  to  them  at  all,  we  declare,  at  the  first  opening  of 
conceive  may  be  drazvn  to  a  bind-  the  meeting,  that  your  majesty 
ing  assumption  ;  and  besides,  it  intends  and  promises  two  ses- 
is  not  necessary ;  the  very  pro-  sions  ;  this  former  for  yourself, 
position  being  sufficient  to  that  that  latter,  in  Michaelmas  term 
effect.  next,  for  them  ;  this  to  ascertain 

the  payments  of  your  army,  and 
to  strike  off  the  debts  of  your  crown  ;  that,  for  the  enacting  of  all 
such  profitable  and  wholsome  laws,  as  a  moderate  and  good  people 
may  expect  from  a  wise  and  gracious  king. 

14.  That,  this  being  the  order  of  nature,  reason,  and  civility, 
your  majesty  expects  it  should  be  entirely  observed,  and  yourself 
wholly  intrusted  by  them  ;  which  they  are  not  only  to  grant  to  be 
fit  in  the  general  case  of  king  and  subjects,  but  ought  indeed  to 
acknowledge  it  with  thankfulness  due  to  your  majesty  in  particular, 
when  they  look  back,  and  call  to  mind,  how  for  their  ease  you  were 
content  to  take  the  sixscore  thousand  pounds  (which  their  agents 
gave  to  be  paid  in  three)  in  six  years  ;  and  not  barely  so  neither, 
but  to  double  your  graces  towards  them  the  whilst,  which  they  have 
enjoyed  accordingly,  much  to  their  advantage  and  greatly  to  the 
loss  of  the  crown. 

15.  And  that  considering  the  army  hath  been  represented  over  to 
your  majesty  from  this  council,  and  in  a  manner  from  the  body  of 
this  whole  kingdom,  to  be  of  absolute  necessity,  to  give  comfort  to 
the  quiet  minds  in  their  honest  labours,  to  contain  the  licentious 
spirits  within  the  modest  bounds  of  sobriety,  it  consists  not  with 
your  majesty's  wisdom  to  give  unto  the  world,  no,  not  the  appear- 
ance of  so  much  improvidence  in  your  own  counsels,  of  so  much 
forgetfulness  in  a  case  of  their  safety,  as  to  leave  that  pillar  of  your 
authority,  and  their  peace,  unset  for  continuance,  at  least  one  six 
months  before  the  wearing  forth  of  their  contribution. 

Sect.     16,     17,     18.       We    do  16.     Therefore    your    majesty 

not     conceive     that     hereby    you  was   well  assured  in  conformity 

purpose  easily  to  relinquish  any  to     the     rules    of    reason     and 

of  our  demands,  for  all  which  judgment,  they  would  presently 


APPENDIX  I.  283 

you  have  laid  so  fair  and  solid  grant  three  subsidies  to  be  paid 
grounds.  And  considering  the  in  three  years,  to  disengage 
payment  of  the  army  is  abso-  the  crown  of  fourscore  thousand 
lutely  necessajy  to  be  born  by  pound  debt ;  and  continue  their 
the  country^  they  cannot  pre-  quarterly  payments  towards  the 
taid  by  their  three  subsidies  to  army  four  years  longer;  in 
make  a  fitting  recognition  of  which  time  it  was  hopeful  (suit- 
respect  for  our  coi7iing  to  the  able  to  your  gracious  intentions) 
crotvn,  without  that  last  addition  some  other  expedient  might  be 
to  buy  171  rents  and  pe^tsions .  found  out,  to  maintain  the  army 

without  further  charge  to  them 
at  all ;  which  law  past,  they  shou'd  have  as  much  leisure  to  enact 
for  themselves  at  after,  as  they  could  desire,  either  now,  or  in 
winter.  Nay  your  majesty  wou'd  be  graciously  pleased,  with  the 
assistance  of  your  council,  to  advise  seriously  with  them,  that 
nothing  might  remain,  either  unthought  of,  or  deny'd,  conducing  to 
the  publick  good  of  this  kingdom  :  but  if  they  made  difficulty  to 
proceed  with  your  majesty  in  this  manner,  other  counsels  must  be 
thought  of,  and  little  to  be  rely'd,  or  expected  for  from  them. 

17.  I  am  not  to  flatter  your  majesty  so  far,  as  to  raise  any  hope, 
on  that  side,  that  all  this  shou'd  be  granted,  but  by  pressing  both  ; 
and  especially  the  continuance  of  the  quarterly  payments  to  the 
army,  which  they  dread  above  any  earthly  thing,  I  conceive  it 
probable,  that  to  determine  and  lay  asleep  (as  they  think)  the  con- 
tribution, and  in  acknowledgment  of  your  majesty's  happy  access  to 
the  crown,  they  may  be  drawn  to  a  present  gift  of  three  subsidies, 
payable  in  three  years,  which  alone  wou'd  keep  the  army  on  foot 
during  that  time  ;  and  if  my  calculation  hold,  almost  discharge  the 
debt  of  the  crown  besides. 

18.  For  thus  I  make  my  estimate  :  the  contribution  from  the 
country,  is  now  but  twenty  thousand  pounds  sterling  by  the  year ; 
whereas  I  have  good  reason  to  trust,  each  subsidy  will  raise  thirty 
thousand  pounds  sterling  ;  and  so  there  will  be  ten  thousand  pounds 
for  three  years,  over  and  above  the  establishment :  which  thirty 
thousand  pounds  sterling,  well  and  profitably  issued,  will,  I  trust, 
with  honour  to  your  majesty,  and  moderate  satisfaction  of  the  parties, 
strike  off  the  whole  fourscore  thousand  pounds  Irish,  which  in 
present  presseth  so  sore  upon  this  crown. 

Sect.  19,  20,  21,  22.  We  19.  And  then,  sir,  after  that 
like  well  the  apfointing  of  such  in  Michaelmas  term,  all  bene- 
a  committee^  and  we  refer  the  ficial  acts  for  the  subject  be 
nomination  to  yourself .  We  have  thought  of,  as  many,  no  fewer 
also  given  order  to  some  of  our  nor  no  more,  enacted,  than  were 
council  here,  with  the  assistance  fit  in  honour  and  wisdom  to  be 
of  our  attorney  general,  to  con-  granted  ;  if  for  a  conclusion  to 
sider  of  the  g^'aces,  that  nothing  this  parliament,  we  could  gain 
pass  by  law  which  may  prejudice  from  them  other  two  subsidies, 
ourcrowfi.  to   buy   in    rents   and    pensions, 

to   ten   thousand   pounds  yearly 
value ;  (a  thing  they  are  inclinable  unto,    as  is  mention'd  in  my 


284  APPENDIX  I. 

dispatch  to  the  lord  treasurer)  I  judge,  there  were  an  happy  issue  of 
this  meeting  ;  and  that  it  shou'd,  through  God's  blessing,  appear  to 
the  world  in  a  few  years,  you  had  without  charge  made  a  more 
absolute  conquest  of  this  nation  by  your  wisdom,  than  all  your 
royal  progenitors  have  been  able  to  accomplish  by  their  armies,  and 
vast  expense  of  treasure  and  blood. 

20.  These  being  the  ends,  in  my  poor  opinion,  which  are  to  be 
desired  and  attained,  the  best  means  to  dispose  and  fit  all  concurring 
causes  thereunto,  are  not  to  be  forgotten  ;  and  therefore  as  pre- 
paratives, I  make  bold  to  offer  these  ensuing  particulars  : — 

21.  It  seems  to  be  very  convenient,  a  committee  be  forthwith 
appointed  of  some  fevv  of  us  here,  to  take  into  consideration  all  the 
bills  intended  when  there  was  a  parliament  to  have  been  called  in 
the  time  of  my  lord  Falkland  ;  such  as  shall  be  judged  beneficial, 
to  make  them  ready ;  such  as  may  be  of  too  much  prejudice  to  the 
crown,  to  lay  them  aside  ;  and  to  draw  up  others,  which  may  chance 
to  have  been  then  omitted.  This  work  may  be  by  the  committees 
either  quickened  or  foreslowen  as  the  parliament  proceeds,  either 
warmer  or  cooler  in  your  majesty's  supplies. 

22.  Next,  that  your  majesty's  acts  of  grace  directed  to  my  lord 
Falkland  the  24th  of  May,  1628,  may  be  considered  by  such  of 
your  council  in  England  as  shall  please  your  majesty  to  appoint  ; 
there  being  many  matters  therein  contained,  which  in  a  law,  wou'd 
not  futurely  so  well  sort  with  the  power  requisite  to  be  upheld  in 
this  kingdom,  nor  yet  with  your  majesty's  present  profit  ;  which 
hath  persuaded  me  to  except  against  such  as  I  hold  best  to  be 
silently  passed  over,  and  to  transmit  a  paper  thereof  to  my  lord 
treasurer. 

Sect.  23.  We  approve  the  12.  It  is  to  be  feared,  the 
reformation  of  these  pressures  meaner  sort  of  subjects  here, 
and  extortions  by  exa?uples,  and  live  under  the  pressures  of  the 
by  commissions,  by  our  ozvn  great  men  ;  and  there  is  a 
authority ;  but  by  no  means  to  general  complaint,  that  officers 
be  done  by  parliament.  exact  much  larger  fees,  than  of 

right  they  ought  to  do.  To 
help  the  former,  if  it  be  possible,  I  will  find  out  two  or  three  to 
make  examples  of;  and  to  remedy  the  latter,  grant  out  a  com- 
mission for  examining,  regulating,  and  setting  down  tables  of  fees 
in  all  your  courts  :  so  as  they  shall  find  your  majesty's  goodness 
and  justice,  watching  and  caring  for  their  protection  and  ease,  both 
in  private  and  publick  respects. 

Sect.  24.  We  alloiu  of  this  24.  I  shall  endeavour,  the 
course.  lower    house    may    be   so   com- 

posed, as  that  neither  the  re- 
cusants, nor  yet  the  protestants,  shall  appear  considerably  more 
one  than  the  other  ;  holding  them  as  much  as  may  be  upon  an  equal 
ballance  ;  for  they  will  prove  thus  easier  to  govern,  than  if  either 
party  were  absolute.  Then  wou'd  I,  in  private  discourse,  shew  the 
recusant,  that  the  contribution  ending  in  December  next,  if  your 
majesty's  army  were  not  supply'd  some  other  way  before,  the  twelve 


APPENDIX  I. 


285 


pence  a  Sunday  must  of  necessity  be  exacted  upon  them  ;  and  shew 
the  protestant,  that  your  majesty  must  not  let  go  the  twenty  thou- 
sand pounds  contribution,  nor  yet  discontent  the  other  in  matters 
of  religion,  till  the  army  were  some  way  else  certainly  provided  for  ; 
and  convince  them  both,  that  the  present  quarterly  payments  are 
not  so  burdensome  as  they  pretend  them  to  be  ;  and  that  by  the 
graces  they  have  had  already  more  benefit,  than  their  money  came 
to.  Thus  poising  one  by  the  other,  which  single  might  perchance 
prove  more  unhappy  to  deal  with. 


Sect.  25.  To  make  captains 
and  officers  burgesses  rue  alto- 
gether dislike  :  because  it  is  fitter 
they  attend  their  charges  at  that 
tifjte.  Make  your  choice  rather 
by  partictdar  knowledge  of  metH s 
interests,  and  good  affections  to 
our  service. 

Sect.  26.  In  the  higher  house, 
for  the  prelates  -we  have  written 
our  special  letter  to  the  priinate 
of  Armagh,  addressing  him  there- 
in to  be  directed  by  yourself 

may  be  thought  of  on  this  side. 


25.  I  will  labour  to  make 
as  many  captains  nnd  officers, 
burgesses,  as  possibly  I  can,  who, 
having  immediate  dependance 
upon  the  crown,  may  almost 
sway  the  business  betwixt  the 
two  parties,  which  way  they 
please. 

26.  In  the  higher  house,  your 
majesty  will  have,  I  trust,  the 
bishops  wholly  for  you.  The 
titular  lords,  rather  than  come 
over  themselves,  will  put  their 
proxies  into  such  safe  hands,  as 

And  in  the  rest,  your  majesty 
hath  such  interest,  what  out  of  duty  to  the  crown,  and  obnoxious- 
ness  in  themselves,  as  I  do  not  apprehend  much,  any  difficulty 
amongst  them. 


Sect.  27.  For  the  peers,  that 
their  proxies  ?nay  be  well  disposed, 
we  wou^d  have  you  settd  ivith 
speed  the  names  of  those  there,  in 
ivhom  you  repose  special  trust. 
And  in  case  your  list  cannot  be 
here  in  time,  we  will  give  order 
that  all  the  proxies  be  sent  to  you 
with  blanks  to  be  assigned  there. 
In  general  for  the  better  prevent- 
iftg  of  practices  and  disorders,  you 
shall  siiffer  no  meetitigs  during 
the  setting  of  the  houses,  save  only 
771  p^^blick,  and  for  the  service  of 
the  houses  by  appoint7nent,  and 
for  no  other  ejids. 

1634,  April  12. 

77ie  answers  contained  in  the 
apostiles  are  made  by  his  majesty, 
oitd  by  his  commandmejit  set  down 
in  this  manner. 

John  Coke. 


27.  To  these,  or  to  any  thing 
else  directed  by  your  majesty, 
I  will  with  all  possible  diligence 
apply  myself  so  soon  as  I  shall 
understand  your  pleasure  therein  ; 
most  humbly  beseeching,  you 
will  take  it  into  your  gracious 
memory,  how  much  your  ma- 
jesty's speedy  resolution  in  this 
great  business  imports  the  pros- 
perity of  your  affairs  in  this 
place  ;  and  in  that  respect,  vouch- 
safe to  hasten  it  as  much  as 
conveniently  may  be. 

Wentworth. 


2  86  APPENDIX  I. 

A  Copy  of  the  Paper  containing  the  Heads  of  the  Lord  Strafford'' s 
last  Speech,  written  by  his  own  Hand,  as  it  was  left  upon  the 
Scaffold. 

1.  I  come  to  pay  the  last  debt  we  owe  to  sin. 

2.  Rise  to  righteousness. 

3.  Die  willingly. 

4.  Forgive  all. 

5.  Submit  to  what  is  voted  justice  but  my  intentions  innocent 

from  subverting,  &c. 

6.  Wishing  nothing  more  than  great  prosperity  to  king  and 

people. 

7.  Acquit  the  king  constrained. 

8.  Beseech  to  repent. 

9.  Strange  way  to   write  the   beginning  of  reformation,   and 

settlement  of  a  kingdom  in  blood  on  themselves. 

10.  Beseech  that  demand  may  rest  there. 

11.  Call  not  blood  on  themselves. 

12.  Die  in  the  faith  of  the  church. 

13.  Pray  for  it,  and  desire  their  prayers  with  me. 


28; 


APPENDIX    11. 


SELECTED   PAPERS  AND   LETTERS   PRINTED   SINCE 

THE   PUBLICATION    OF   BROWNING'S   LIFE 

OF  STRAFFORD. 


I.  Sept.  15,1617.  Sir  Thomas 
Wentworth  to  the  Earl 
of  Buckingham,  giving 
reasons  why  he  should  not 
be  called  on  to  resign  his 
place  of  Gustos  Rotuloj'icm, 
p.  287. 
]i.  Jan.  2C,  1625-6,  Sir  Thomas 
Wentworth  to  Lord  Con- 
way, asking  for  the  place 
of  Lord  President  of  the 
North,  p.  290, 
III.  May  27,  1627.  Sir  Thomas 
Wentworth  to  the  Com- 
missioners for  the  forced 
Loan  :  he  is  too  ill  to 
attend  them  at  York, 
p.  291. 

IV.  Dec.  1628,    Viscount  Went- 

worth's  Speech  when  he 
first  sate  President  of  the 
North,  p.  291. 

V.  Sept.  24,   1632.      Viscount 


Wentworth  to  the  Earl 
of  Carlisle  (?),  on  the  case 
of  Sir  David  Foulis ;  on 
the  necessity  of  keeping 
up  the  King's  power  ;  and 
on  Wentworth's  devotion 
to  this,  p.  296. 

VI,  Oct.    24,    1632.      Viscount 

Wentworth  to  the  Earl  of 
Carlisle.  On  Wentworth's 
devotion  to  the  Crown, 
and  his  dislike  and  censure 
of  Sir  David  Foulis,  with 
an  appeal  that  Payler's 
thousand-pound  fine  for 
incest  be  given  to  a  church 
for  a  pair  of  Organs, 
p.  300. 

VII.  April  12,    1639.     Viscount 

Wentworth  to  Chief  Jus- 
tice Bramston,  on  the 
former's  suit  against  Sir 
Piers  Crosby,  p.  302. 


15  Sept.    161 7.       SIR  THOS.    WENTWORTH   TO   THE   EARL 
OF    BUCKINGHAM. 

{Fortescue  Papers  (p.  23).  Camden  Society,  1871,  40.) 
Right  Honorable  and  my  very  good  Lord.  Thes  are  to  give 
your  Lordship  humble  thankes  for  your  respective  letters  dated 
from  Warwicke  the  5  of  this  instant  September,  which  I  receaved 
the  13  of  the  same  ;  the  messinger  told  me  your  Lordsliip  expected 
a  speedy  answear,  in  observance  whearof  I  must  crave  your  patience 
in  reading  a  long  letter. 

Your  Lordship  was  pleased  therin  to  lett  me  understande,  that 


288     APPENDIX  IL     I.   LETTER    TO  BUCKINGHAM. 

wheras  his  Majestic  is  informed  that  Sir  John  Savill  yealded  up 
his  place  of  Custos  Potulorum  voluntarily  unto  me,  his  Majestic 
will  take  it  well  att  my  hands  that  I  resigne  itt  up  to  him  againe, 
with  the  same  willingnes,  and  will  be  mindfull  of  me  to  give  me  as 
good  prefermentt  upon  any  other  occasion. 

My  Lord  :  I  am  with  all  duty  to  receave  and  with  all  humble 
thanicfullnes  to  acknowledge  his  Majesties  great  favours  hearin  : 
both  of  his  espetiall  grace  to  take  the  consentt  of  his  humblest 
subject,  wher  it  might  have  pleased  his  Majestic  absolutely  to 
commaund,  as  alsoefor  soe  princely  a  promise  of  other  prefermentt  : 
and  itt  wear  indeed  the  greatest  good  happ  unto  me,  if  I  had  the 
means  wherby  his  Majestic  would  be  pleased  to  take  notice  how 
much  I  esteem  myself  bownd  to  his  princely  goodnes  for  the 
same. 

When  your  Lordship  is  informed  that  Sir  Jhon  yealded  up  his 
place  of  Citstos  Rohilornm  willingly  unto  me  ;  under  favour,  I  hauc 
noe  reason  so  to  conceavc  ;  for,  first,  he  had  noc  interest  to  yeald, 
and,  further,  I  imagin  he  would  not  hauc  done  the  same  willingly 
att  all,  wherof  this  his  desiring  itt  againe  is  a  sufficientt  argumentt. 
Butt,  howsoever,  voluntarily  unto  me  I  cannot  be  perswaded,  both 
in  respect  he  neuer  acquainted  me  with  this  motion,  which  would 
hauc  been  done,  had  1  been  soe  much  behoulden  unto  him  as  is 
pretended,  and  in  regard  I  had  then  some  reason  to  misdoubt 
(which  I  have  since  found)  he  was  not  soe  well  affected  towards 
me. 

Butt  if  itt  please  your  Lordship  to  be  satisfied  of  the  truth,  you 
shall  find  Sir  Jhon  brought  into  the  Staire-chamber  for  his  passion- 
ate cariage  upon  the  benche  towards  one  of  his  fellow  commissioners  ; 
upon  a  motion  in  that  Court  for  his  contempts  committed  to  the 
Fleet,  and,  upon  reading  of  an  affidavit,  thought  unfitt  to  be 
continued  in  the  Commission  of  Peace,  to  which  purpose  my  late 
Lord  Chancclour  gave  his  direction  about  the  3.  of  December  shall- 
bc  tow  years  ;  which  Sir  Jhon  getting  notice  of,  to  give  the  better 
coullor  to  his  displacing,  writt  some  3  dayes  after  to  my  Lord 
desiring  his  Lordship  would  be  pleased  to  spaire  his  service  in 
respect  of  his  years ;  wher  indeed  he  was  in  effect  out  of  the 
Commission  before,  by  vertu  of  that  direction  :  and  so  consequently 
tlier  was  nothing  in  him  to  resigne,  aither  voluntarily  or  other 
wayes.  This  will  partly  appear  by  a  coppy  of  Sir  Jhon's  letter,  and 
my  Lord's  answear  under  the  same,  which  this  bearer  hath  to  shew 
your  Lordship. 

Presently  hearupon  itt  pleased  my  Lord  Chancclour,  I  being  att 
that  time  in  the  cuntry,  freely  of  himself  to  conferre  that  place  upon 
nie,  and,  as  his  Lordship  did  fully  assure  me,  without  any  motion 
made  unto  him,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  any  frend  of  mine 
whoesoever. 

Being  thus  placed  I  have  ever  since,  according  to  that  poore 
talent  God  hath  lentt  me,  applied  myself,  with  all  paines,  dilligcnce, 
care,  and  sincerity  to  his  Majesties  service,  bothe  according  to  the 
common  duty  of  a  subject  and  the  particuler  duty  of  my  place, 


APPENDIX  11.     I.  LETTER    TO  BUCKINGHAM.     289 

wherin  if  any  man  can  charge  me  to  the  contrary,  I  wilbe  ready  to 
justifie  my  self. 

Allbeitt  I  doe  infinittly  desire  to  doe  his  Majestic  service,  I  may 
truly  say  that  I  am  free  from  ambition  to  desire  places  of  imploy- 
mentt  wherby  ether  his  Majesties  service  might  not  be  soe  well 
performed,  or  my  owne  ends  better  effected  ;  yett,  my  Lord,  to  be 
removed  without  any  misdeamenour,  I  trust,  that  can  be  alledged. 
against  me,  the  like  I  thinke  hath  not  been  heard  of ;  but  thatt 
Sir  Jhon  should  supply  the  roome  in  my  place,  the  world  conceaving 
generally,  and  I  having  felt  experiencedly,  to  be  very  little  frendly 
towards  me,  itt  might  justly  be  taken  as  the  greatest  disgrace  that 
could  be  done  unto  me,  and  being  that  which  his  Majestic  never 
offered  to  Sir  Jhon  during  all  the  time  of  his  displeasure  against  him, 
I  might  well  conceave  his  Majestic  to  be  (to  my  greatest  greef) 
highly  offended  with  me,  by  some  indirect  means  of  my  adversaries. 

Thes  reasons  give  me  assurance  in  my  hope  that  his  Majestic  out 
of  his  accustomed  goodnes  to  all  sort  of  persons  willbe  pleased  to 
deale  graciousely  with  me,  espetially  when  his  Majestic  shallbe 
informed  of  these  reasons,  which  I  humbly  desire  he  may  by  your 
Lordship's  good  means,  as  alsoe  if  Sir  Jhon  be  soe  desirouse  to  doe 
his  Majestic  service  (which  is  all  our  duties)  he  may  doe  itt  as 
effectually,  being  Justice  of  peace,  as  if  he  wear  the  Custos 
Rotulorum. 

Howsoever,  with  all  due  reverence  and  observance  shall  I  waite 
his  Majesties  best  pleasure,  and  willingly  and  dutifully  submitt 
myself  to  the  same,  yett  humbly  crave  to  be  excused,  if,  out  of  thes 
reasons,  I  say  plainly  as  yett  I  finde  no  willingnesse  in  myself  ta 
yeald  up  my  place  to  Sir  Jhon  Savill. 

Thus  much  am  I  hc»ld  to  signifie  to  your  Lordship  to  give  you 
satisfaction,  which  I  doe  very  much  desire,  and  withall  to  move  your 
Lordship  very  humbly  that  ther  may  be  noe  further  proceedings 
hearin,  till  I  attend  your  Lordship,  which  shalbe,  God  willing,  with 
all  convenient  speed. 

Lastly,  my  Lord,  myself  never  having  nourished  a  thought  that 
might  in  any  sortt  draw  your  Lordship's  hard  conceitt  towards  me,  I 
fully  rely  upon  your  Lordship's  favour,  in  a  matter  of  this  nature, 
that  soe  deeply  concerns  my  creditt  in  the  cuntry  whear  I  live, 
which  makes  me  now  therof  the  more  sensible  ;  and  shall  give  me 
just  occasion  still  to  indevour  myself  to  doe  you  service,  and 
beseeche  God  to  blesse  your  Lordship  with  longe  life  and  all 
hap  pines. 

Your  Lordship's  humbly  to  be  commaunded, 

Th.  Wentworth. 

Gawthorp, 
this  i$th  of  September,  1617. 


2  90     APPENDIX  IT.     No.  2.  LETTER   TO   CONWAY. 


II. 

20  Jan.  1625-6.  Wentworth  to  Lord  Conway,  asking  for  the  place 
of  Lord  President  of  the  North.  (State  Papers,  Domestic,  Charles 
I.  xviij,  no.) 

My  much  Honored  Lorde. 

The  duties  of  the  Place  I  now  hold,  not  admitting  my 
absence  out  of  thes  parttes,  I  shallbe  bold  to  trouble  yowr  lord- 
ship w/th  a  few  lines,  wheras  otherwayes  I  W'ould  haue  attended 
you  in  person.  Ther  is  a  stronge  and  generall  beleefe  wzth  vs  hear, 
that  my  Lord  Scroope,  purposeth  to  leaue  the  Presidentshippe  of 
Yorke  ;  whearvpon  many  of  my  frendes,  haue  earnestly  moued  me  to 
vse  sum  meanes  to  procure  itt,  and  I  haue  att  Last  yealded  to  take 
itt  a  little  into  consideration,  more  to  complye  w/th  them,  then  out 
of  any  violentt,  or  inordinate  desire  thervnto  in  my  self:  yet  as  on 
the  one  side,  I  haue  neuer  thought  of  itt,  vnlesse  itt  might  be  ef- 
fected, wz'th  the  good  liking  of  my  Lord  Scroope  ;  soe  will  I  neuer 
moue  further  in  itt,  till  I  knowe  allsoe,  how  this  sute  may  please, 
my  Lord  of  Buckingham,  seeing  indeed  such  a  scale  of  his  graciouse 
good  opinion  would  comfortt  me  much,  make  the  place  more  accept- 
able ;  and  that  I  am  fully  resolued  nott  to  ascende  one  steppe  in 
this  kinde,  excepte  I  may  take  alonge  wz'th  me  by  the  way  a  spetiall 
obligation  to  my  Lord  Duke,  from  whose  bowntye  and  goodnesse  I 
doe  nott  only  acknowledge  much  allready  ;  but  iustified  in  the 
truthe  of  my  owne  hartte,  doe  still  repose  and  rest  vnder  the  shadow 
and  protection  of  his  fauoure.  I  beseeche  yowr  'L.ordshi^^  therfore 
be  pleased  to  take  sum  good  oportunity  fully  to  acquainte  his  Grace 
hearwz'th,  and  then  to  voutchsafe  (wz'th  your  accustomed  freedum 
and  noblenesse)  to  giue  me  your  Counsell  and  direction,  Wy^zch  I 
am  prepaired  strictly  to  obserue,  as  one  allbeitt  chearfully  imbracing 
better  meanes  to  doe  his  Maz>i'tie  humble  and  faithful!  seruice  in 
thes  parttes  whear  I  Hue  ;  yet  can  wz'th  as  well  a  contented  minde 
rest  wher  I  am,  if  by  reason  of  my  many  imperfections  I  shall  not 
be  iudged  capable  of  nearer  imploymentt  and  trust.  Ther  is  nothing 
more  to  adde  for  the  presentt,  saue  that  I  must  rest  much  bounden 
vnto  your  Y^ordshv^,  for  the  light  I  shall  borrow  from  youriudgmentt, 
and  affection  hearin,  and  soe  borrowe  itt  too,  as  may  better  inable 
me  more  effectually  to  exspresse  my  self  hearafter. 

Yowr  lor^.y^/ps  most  humble  and  affectionate 

kinsman  to  be  commaunded, 

Th.  Wentworth. 

Wentwo>th  this  7.0th  of  January,  1625. 

(Addressed)  To  the  Right  Honorable  my  much  honored  Lorde  the 
Lorde  Conway  Principal!  Secretarye  to  his  MazVi'tie. 

(Endorsed)  20  January  1625  Szr  Thomas  Wentworth  to  the  Lor^ 
Conway,  ffor  the  place  of  Lor^  President  of  the  North. 

(Wei!  preserved  seal. ) 


APPENDIX  II.     Nos.  3  and  4.  291 

III. 

27  May  1627.  Sir  Thos.  Wentworth  to  the  Commissioners  for 
the  forced  loan.     (State  Papers,  Domestic,  Charles  I,  Ixv,  12,  ii. ) 

May  itt  please  you.  I  haue  to  day  receaued  your  letter,  dated 
the  tenthe  of  this  instant :  whearin  I  am  required  to  be  with  you 
att  Yorke,  on  tuesday  next ;  the  occasion  is  as  I  perceave  con- 
cerning the  late  loan  to  his  MazV^tie  by  me  as  yet  vnpaid.  I  should 
precisely  have  obserued  your  time,  if  infirme  bodyes  weare  as  readye 
ministers  of  the  minde,  as  pens,  out  of  which  reason  I  trust,  my 
absence  willbe  rightly  interpreted,  and  held  excused  by  you.  This 
gentle  proceeding  of  the  Lordes  of  the  Counsell  (whear  they  might 
haue  sent  for  me  vp  by  Pursevant)  I  humbly  acknowledge  ;  and 
therfore  to  apply  myself  vnto  ther  commaunds  in  the  dutifullest 
manner,  I  shall  desire,  that,  with  your  good  leaues,  I  may  present 
my  own  answeare  att  the  borde,  which  I  will  hearby  by  God's 
helpe  vndertake  to  performe,  in  as  short  a  space  as  the  moderate 
care  of  my  healthe  will  well  admitt,  and  ease  you  therby  of  any 
further  trouble  or  burthen.  But  if  itt  soe  fall  forth,  as  you  shall  not 
thinke  good  to  grant  me  this  request,  I  will  then  waite  upon  you 
before  the  end  of  the  weeke,  albeitt  I  be  carried  in  a  litter.  Thus 
desiring  to  vnderstande  by  the  bearer  your  good  pleasure  hearin  I 
rest. 

Your  very  affectionate  freinde, 

T.  Wentworth. 

Thornhill,  ih's  -zjth  of  May,  1627, 

To  my  Honorable  good  and  much  respected  freindes,  Sir  Henry 
Savile,  Barronet,  Sir  Tho.  Fairfaxe,  Sir  Wm.  Ellis,  Knights,  and 
Wm.  Mallorye,  Esquier,  att  Yorke. 

IV. 

Dec.  1628.  Thomas  Lord  Viscount  Wentworth's  speech  when  he 
first  sate  Lord  President  of  the  North.  (From  the  Tanner  MSS. 
in  the  Bodleian  Library ;  printed  by  Professor  S.  R.  Gardiner  in 
The  Academy,  June  5,  1875.) 

My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, — Much  reading  or  affected  elegance  in 
speech  are  seldom  heard  without  some  mixture  of  ostentacion  or 
levity  ;  the  modest  sense,  therefore,  of  my  own  weakness,  the  gravity 
of  the  persons,  the  dignity  of  the  place,  move  us  to  become  com- 
formable  to  the  rule  of  the  architect,  Minervae  propter  virtutem  sine 
deliciis  aedeficia  constittd  decet.  Indeed,  natural,  substantial  plain- 
ness many  times  persuades,  prevails  most  with  sad  judgements  ;  nay, 
it  seems,  at  least  in  the  opinion  of  these  times,  even  best  becoming 
the  Goddess  of  wisdom  and  eloquence  herself  Without  any  shadow 
or  light  of  art  then,  I  must  sett  forth  myself  before  you  this  day  for 
the  most  obliged  man  in  the  world  ;  an  evident,  a  manifest  truth  ; 
my  testimonies  are  your  own  great  trusts.  We  frequently  communi- 
cated in  diverse  Parliaments  j  your  chearful  affections  enlarged  not 


292     APPENDIX  II.   4.  LOPD  PRESIDENTS  SPEECH. 

present  alone,  but  in  my  confinement — in  a  degree  exile — when  I 
was  asinfeccion  tootiiers,  you  vouchsafed  then  again  to  take  me  into 
your  bosoms.  "What  confidence  greater  ?  Or  what  affection  warmer  ? 
But  cast  the  free  bomities  of  my  gracious  master  into  the  other  scale  ? 
there  weigh  me,  within  the  space  of  one  year  a  bird,  a  wandring 
bii-d  cast  out  of  the  nest,  a  prisoner,  planted  here  again  in  my  own 
soil  amongst  the  companions  of  my  youth  ;  my  house  honoured,  my- 
self entrusted  with  the  rich  dispensacion  of  a  soveran  goodness,  nay, 
assured  of  all  these  before  I  ask'd,  before  I  thought  of  any.  Can 
you  show  me  so  sudden,  so  strange  variety  in  a  private  fortune  ?  Tell 
me,  was  there  ever  such  over-measure  ?  The  like  credit  given  to  so 
weak  a  debtor  ?  Baulked  indeed  before  I  begin,  owing  more  both 
to  king  and  people  than  I  shall  ever  be  able  to  repay  to  either.  Yet 
to  the  joint  individual  well  being  of  Soverainty  and  of  subjeccion  do 
I  here  vow  all  my  cares  and  diligences  through  the  whole  course  of 
this  my  ministry.  I  confess  I  am  not  ignorant  how  some  dis- 
temperd  minds  have  of  late  very  farr  endeavoured  to  divide  the 
consideracions  of  the  two ;  as  if  their  ends  were  distinct,  not  the 
same,  nay  in  opposition  ;  a  monstrous,  a  prodigious  birth  of  a 
licentious  conception ;  for  so  we  should  become  all  head  or  all 
members.  But,  God  be  praised,  human  wisdom,  common  experi- 
ence, Christian  religion  teach  us  farr  otherwise. 

Princes  are  to  be  indulgent,  nursing  fathers  to  their  people  ;  their 
modest  liberties,  their  sober  rights  ought  to  be  precious  in  their  eies, 
the  branches  of  their  government  be  for  shadow  for  habitacion,  the 
comfort  of  life,  repose,  safe  and  still  under  the  proteccion  of  their 
scepters.  Subjects,  on  the  other  side,  ought  with  solicitous  eyes  of 
jealousy  to  watch  over  the  prerogatives  of  a  Crown  ;  the  authority 
of  a  King  is  the  key-stone  which  closeth  up  the  arch  of  order  and 
government,  which  contains  each  part  in  due  relation  to  the  whole, 
and  which  once  shaken,  infirm'd  all  the  frame  falls  together  into  a 
confused  heap  of  foundation  and  battlement,  of  strength  and  beauty. 
Furthermore  subjects  must  lay  down  their  lives  for  the  defence  of 
Kings  freely,  till  those  offer  out  of  their  store  freely  like  our  best 
grounds,  Qui  majore  tibertate  gratiam  quietis  7-eferre  solent. 

Verily,  these  are  those  mutual  intelligences  of  love  and  proteccion 
descending,  and  loyalty  ascending,  which  should  pass,  be  the  enter- 
tainments between  a  king  and  his  people.  Their  faithfuU  servants 
must  look  equally  on  both,  weave,  twist  these  two  together  in  all 
their  counsells,  study,  labour  to  preserve  each  without  diminishing 
or  enlarging  either,  and  by  running  in  the  worn,  wonted  channells, 
treading  the  ancient  bounds,  cutt  off  early  all  disputes  from  betwixt 
them.  For  whatever  he  be  which  ravells  forth  into  questions  the 
right  of  a  King  and  of  a  people,  shall  never  be  able  to  wrap  them 
up  again  into  the  comeliness  and  order  he  found  them. 

So  I  trust  you  see  that  by  this  great  access  of  honour  and  place,  I 
am  not  only  a  stone — so  to  use  a  word  of  art — set  upon  my  own 
bed  for  continuance,  for  lasting,  but  acquisitive  posiitis  too,  gain- 
fully, commodiously  seated  for  the  service  both  of  king  and  people. 
And  I  take  God  to  witness  my  chiefest  comfort  herein  is  to  consider 


APPENDIX  IL   4.  LORD  PRESIDENTS  SPEECH.     293 

that  the  occasions  whei-eby  to  express  my  duties  to  God,  my  faith  to 
my  master,  my  love  to  you,  will  be  more  frequently  put  into  my 
hands  in  this  than  in  a  privater  condicion,  which  I  beseech  God 
I  may  do  as  I  ought,  as  I  infinitely  desire  to  travail  under  and  out 
of  these  great  obligacions  with  vertue,  truth,  and  thankfullness. 

Give  me  leave,  therefore,  as  one  who  comming  forth  of  the  sweets, 
the  ease  of  a  private  life,  already  feel  the  weight  that  presseth  upon 
me,  to  charge,  to  adjure  you  each  one,  by  those  tender  respects 
which  have  hitherto,  and  shall  still  move  me  rather  to  serve  you 
uprightly  than  myself  profitably,  by  those  dear  affeccions  which  you 
have  ever  born  me,  by  the  care  you  ought  to  have  of  him  that  will 
very  gladly  spend  and  be  spent  for  you  ;  by  the  private  interest  of 
your  selves  and  posterity,  not  to  leave  me,  shrink  from  me  now 
when  I  have  most  need  of  you  ;  but  by  your  counsell,  by  your  paines, 
to  be  still  assisting,  aiding  towards  the  performance  of  this  so  ex- 
cellent, so  necessary  a  duty  ;  surely  it  is  the  strongest  engagement 
any  mortal  man  can  put  upon  me ;  this  is  my  greatest  ambition, 
above  any  earthly  thing  to  serve  his  MazV^tie,  and  you  acceptably  and 
fruitfully.  I  challenge  your  best  help  then,  I  require  it  of  you  ;  you 
will  not  as  friends,  you  may  not  as  Christians,  you  cannot  as  lovers 
of  your  countrie  deny  it  me. 

So  as  in  full  affiance  thereof,  I  will  leave  my  self,  and  observe 
some  rules  which  concerne  the  place  ;  a  distinction  by  which  I  shall 
futurely  govern  my  self  ;  for  in  relation  to  my  own  person,  never 
President  expected  so  little  ;  in  relation  to  this  place,  never  any  more 
jealous  of  the  honour  of  his  master,  never  any  that  lookd  for  more. 

Unity  inwards  amongst  ourselves  ;  uniform  justice  outwards  to 
such  as  come  before  us,  are  I  trust  the  Boni  Genii,  the  acquir'd 
habits  of  this  Council,  I  shall  by  the  way  then  only  do  them 
reverence,  entirely  submitt  myself  to  their  skill,  their  equal  regiment, 
arid  so  to  pass  on  to  the  bleeding  evill,  which  unless  it  be  stanched, 
closed  by  a  ready,  a  skilfull  hand,  will  quickly  let  out  the  very 
vitals  of  this  Court,  I  mean  prohibitions  ;  the  necessity  whereof 
cries  not  alone  to  us  that  are  judges  to  attend  the  cure,  but  as  you 
have  heard,  his  MazVj-tie  himself  requires  it  of  us. 

Well,  the  disease  is  recoverable  ;  the  remedies  I  propound  are 
two  ;  the  first  to  assume  nothing  to  ourselves  but  what  is  our  own, 
being  ever  mindfull  that  the  voice  which  speaks  here  is  vox  ad 
licitum  ;  we  can  go  no  farther  than  our  instruccions  lead  us,  move 
only  within  their  circle ;  once  take  wandring  planets  out  of  that 
sphere,  presently  the  interposicion  of  other  courts  shadow,  eclipse 
the  influence,  the  beams  of  this.  Assure  yourselves,  the  way  to 
loose  what  we  have  is  to  embrace  more  than  belongs  to  us.  You 
that  are  of  the  fee  must  guide  us  herein,  you  are  answerable  for  it, 
it  is  expected  from  your  learning  and  experience,  and  therefore  I  am 
confident  you  will  carefully  intend  it. 

Secondly,  we  must  apply  a  square  courage  to  our  proceedings, 
not  fall  away  as  water  spilt  upon  the  ground,  from  that  which  is 
once  justly,  warrantably  done  ;  nor  yet  give  off  upon  prohibicions 
till  the  suitor  hath  the  fruit  of  his  plaint,  for  the  Commonwealth 


2  94    APPENDIX  11.   4.  LORD  PRESIDENT'S  SPEECH. 

hath  no  more  interest  herein  than  that  justice  be  done,  whether 
with  us  or  elsewhere  it  skills  not ;  the  inherent  rights  of  a  subject 
are  no  waies  touched  upon  here  ;  these  are  only  disputes  betwixt 
courts,  actuated  many  times  out  of  heat,  nay  out  of  wantoness. 
And  thus  the  seats  of  justice,  which  should  nourish,  establish  a 
perfect  harmony  betwixt  the  head,  the  members,  and  amongst 
themselves,  degenerate,  become  instruments  of  strife,  of  separacion, 
whiles  these  furies,  like  that  enraged  Turnus  in  the  Poet,  catch  what 
comes  first  to  hand,  tear  up  the  very  bounderstones  set  by  the 
sobriety  of  former  times,  and  hurl  them  at  their  fellows  in  govern- 
ment :  and  therefore  I  will  declare  this  point  clearly,  that  albeit 
none  before  me  reverenced  the  law  and  the  Professors  of  it  more, 
having  the  honour  to  be  descended  from  a  Chief  Justice  myself, 
yet  if  we  here  take  ourselves  to  be  within,  they  there  conceive  us 
to  be  out  of  our  instruccions,  I  shall  no  more  acknowledge  them  to 
be  our  judges,  than  they  us  to  be  theirs,  but  with  all  due  respect  to 
their  persons,  must  in  these  questions  of  jurisdiction  appeal  to  his 
MazVitie,  the  soverain  judge  of  us  all.  Neither  do  I  this  barely  in 
relation  to  my  master's  command,  but  to  retain  in  ourselves  a 
capacity,  ist,  to  serve  you,  for  if  we  yield  up  our  arms,  how  shall 
we  exercise  our  vertue  amongst  you  ?  2ly,  in  consideration  of  the 
good  and  benefit  of  these  parts,  for  surely  however  some  may 
desire  a  dissolucion  of  this  court,  yet  I  persuade  myself  so  soon  as 
the  number,  the  heat  of  small  suites  carried  farr  remote  at  great 
charges  were  multiplied  amongst  them,  they  would  confess  their 
ancestours  to  have  been  much  wiser  who  peticioned,  gave  a  sub- 
sidy for  erecting  the  Provinciall  Court,  than  themselves  who  are 
now  so  much  for  the  taking  them  away.  May  the  tent  of  this  court 
then  be  enlarged,  the  curtains  drawn  out,  the  stakes  strengthned,  yet 
no  farther  than  shall  be  for  a  covering  to  the  common  tranquillity, 
a  shelter  to  the  poor  and  innocent  from  the  proud  and  insolent. 

To  this  end  must  I  not  only  profess  my  entire  filial  obedience  to 
the  Church,  but  also  covet  a  sound,  a  close  conjunction  with  the 
grave,  the  Reverend  clergy  that  they  to  us,  we  to  them,  may  as 
twins  administer  help  to  each  other ;  that  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
constitutions,  the  two  sides  of  every  state,  may  not  stand  alone  by 
themselves  upon  their  own  single  walls,  subject  to  cleave,  fall  in 
sunder,  but  joind  strongly  bound  together  in  the  angle — where  his 
Ma7>Jtie  under  God  is  the  Mistress  of  the  Corner — the  whole  frame 
may  rise  up  unitate  ordinata^  both  in  the  spirituals  and  in  the 
temporals. 

To  this  end  and  no  other  must  I  encourage  you,  the  Deputy 
Lieftenants,  to  proceed  roundly  to  see  the  arms  of  the  County  fully 
furnishd,  I  say  encourage,  in  regard  some  quicker  sighted  than 
those  that  liv'd  before  them  conceive  the  law  to  be  scant  in  that 
point ;  Reverentius  est  credere  quam  scire  is  an  old  rule  I  could  wish 
were  more  practis'd  nowadaies  as  well  in  matters  of  State  as 
Religion  ;  for  ad  mitt  the  law  were  defective,  yet  then  it  will  be 
confessed  a  necessary  service  for  the  State,  for  the  defence  of  our- 
selves, wives,  and  children  so  as  we  might  manifest  more  discretion 


APPENDIX  II.   4.  LORD  PRESIDENT'S  SPEECH.     295 

to  wink  at  it  than  thus  narrowly  to  pry  into  it.  But  the  truth  of 
the  case  is  farr  otherwise,  his  Ma^Vj'tie  hath  power  coercive.  Let  no 
prevaricating  spirit  flatter  itself,  it  must  be  obedient ;  for  after  I  saw 
the  statute  of  5  H.  4 — not  printed,  I  confess — therein,  even  upon 
the  Peticion  of  the  Commons  themselves  in  Parlament,  authority 
given  the  King  to  appoint  Commissioners  of  array  for  taking  view 
of  arms,  charging  all  degrees  of  men,  raising  moneys  for  maintaining 
them  at  their  discretions  ;  nay,  yet  more  to  imprison  the  refusers,  to 
destrain  upon  their  lands  for  the  summs  so  imposed  upon  them  ;  I 
had  not  then  onely  the  moderacion  of  our  ancestours  in  singular 
recommendacions,  who  never  question'd,  repin'd  at  these  necessary 
provisions  for  the  honour  the  safety  of  the  kingdom ;  but  plainly 
said  they  were  the  wise  intelligent  men,  and  we  of  these  later  times 
the  ignorant,  the  misconceiving. 

Again  to  the  same,  and  no  other  end  must  I  awaken  you  that  be 
Justices  of  the  Peace  to  become  vigilant  in  the  execucion  of  your 
charges,  who — being  still  upon  the  place — should  seasonably  wipe 
from  the  face  of  this  government  the  very  complexions  towards 
disorder  and  idleness  ;  I  say  awaken  you,  in  regard  you  have 
alwaies  ow'd  an  account  unto  this  Council  of  your  proceedings,  we 
must  call  upon  you  for  it,  we  shall  strictly  require  it  at  your  hands, 
albeit  I  am  well  assured  the  sense  of  your  own  honours  and  con- 
science will  be  quicker  persuaders  to  you  herein  than  any  thing  that 
can  move  from  hence. 

Next  must  I  come  to  the  practisers  before  us  ;  amongst  them,  Mr. 
Attorney,  you  are  the  eye  of  the  Court,  to  look  abrode  upon  the 
pressure  of  the  grievances  of  the  subject,  to  bring  delinquents  to 
justice,  that  so  the  oppressed  may  go  free.  There  is  a  band  of 
Escheators,  Feodaries,  Undersheriffs,  Clerks  of  the  Market, 
Attornies,  Registers,  Bailiffs,  and  suchlike,  which  snatch  on  the 
right  hand  and  are  hungry,  eat  on  the  left  and  are  not  satisfied.  It 
is  befitting  the  integrity,  the  watches  expected  from  you  to  be  a 
means  their  fees  be  reduced  to  moderacion  and  certainty  ;  severity 
must  effect  it  ;  these  nettles  gently  touch'd,  sting,  bite ;  taken  up 
with  a  closer  hand  loose  their  heat,  their  venom  ;  this  fartherance 
you  have  towards  the  work  that  we  will  thoroughly  join  with  you  in 
the  imdoing  this  heavy  burthen  ;  therefore  if  you  slip,  grow  remiss 
in  your  duty  you  are  the  more  to  be  blamed.  So  much  to  you 
alone. 

In  the  second  place,  I  must  admonish  you  with  the  rest,  that  your 
pleeding  be  here  heard  with  just  regard  to  the  dignity  of  this  Court. 
The  rules  I  will  give  you  for  the  present  are  not  many ;  they  are 
these.  First,  that  you  do  that  for  one  another  which  we  will  do  for 
you  all,  hear  out  patiently  one  side  without  interupcion,  so  may  you 
with  better  order,  more  advantage,  defend  your  client's  cause  ; 
secondly,  touch  not  upon  the  by,  the  person,  the  adverse  party,  but 
keep  close  to  the  matter  ;  else  you  will  appear  more  to  study  the 
passion  of  your  client,  than  the  respect  you  owe  us,  the  civility  you 
owe  to  yourselves.  He  that  pleads  more  with  foul  language  than 
reason    imminucionem  patitur    saith   the   Law.      So  say  I  too. 


296     APPENDIX  IP     5.  LETPER  ON  SIR  R.  FOULIS, 

Thirdly,  in  the  progress  of  suits  to  a  hearing,  move  nothing  against 
the  constant,  ordinary  rules  of  the  Court ;  1  shall  take  it  for  a  great 
presumpcion  in  any  man  that  offers  it.  4ly.  After  publicacion,  the 
proof  before  your  eyes,  inform  truth,  else  your  reward  must  be  such 
as  will  little  please  you  ;  neither  shall  it  serve  for  a  cloak  either  of 
your  malice,  or  negligence  to  say,  *'  it  is  in  my  brief ;  "  where  it  is 
your  part  in  this  case  to  take  informacion  forth  of  the  books  them- 
selves. Look  to  it  then,  I  say,  and  remember  what  Papinian 
recites  :  Advocatum  ordine  motu?n  ex  falsa  recitacione.  These  rules 
observ'd  you  will  become  worthy  of  your  calling  indeed,  which 
certainly  is  one  of  the  noblest  ;  for  what  greater  comfort,  greater 
honour,  than  for  a  man  by  those  abilities  God  hath  lent  him  above 
others  to  vindicate  silly  naked  truth  from  the  vizard,  the  blemish, 
craft  and  power  might  put  upon  her. 

Finally,  I  do  here  offer  myself,  an  instrument  for  good  in  every 
man's  hand,  he  that  thus  useth  me  most  hath  the  most  of  my  heart, 
even  to  the  meanest  man  within  the  whole  jurisdiccion  ;  and  then 
excite  all  to  lay  aside  to  forget  private  respects,  to  join  hands  and 
hearts,  that  we  may  go  on  chearfully  as  one  man  in  the  service  of 
the  publick,  for  where  the  thoughts  of  particulars  are  sever'd  then 
the  common  business  is  in  danger  to  be  jointly  lost.  These  are 
those  waies  which  travail'd  with  integrity  diligence  and  perseverance 
shall  undoubtedly  lead  in  a  direct  line  to  the  honour  of  his  Maz^jtie, 
bring  wealth  and  peace  to  his  people  ;  put  upon  this  Court  the 
garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness  ;  and  shew  those  wanton 
gallants  that  alwaies  fly  upon  the  superior  powers  that  are  next 
them,  the  necessity,  the  comfort  of  being  govern'd  by  and  under  it. 
Thus  may  we  walk  and  not  fainte ;  thus  may  we  run  and  not  be 
weary. 

Methinks  I  hear  now  the  envious  viper  mordens  in  silmtio  M^hisper 
there  is  a  great  space  betwixt  promise  and  performance  ;  it  may  be, 
I  confess,  the  objeccion  of  wisedom  too ;  therefore  I  end  all  with  a 
suit  I  have  to  make,  which  is  that  in  my  particular  you  will  proceed 
prudently,  severely,  give  no  credit  to  your  ears,  farther  than  charity 
wills,  which  is  to  hope  the  best,  but  call  to  witnesse  your  eyes  too  ; 
for  I  had  much  rather  you  should  take  me  from  the  original  life  of 
that  faithfulnesse,  that  diligence,  wherewith  I  shall  express  myself 
in  your  service,  than  from  these  weak  draughts,  these  imperfect 
copies  of  my  words. 


24  Sept.  1632.  Viscount  Wentworth  to  the  Earl  of  Carlisle  (?) 
on  the  case  of  Sir  Richard  Foul  is,  the  necessity  of  keejDing  up  the 
King's  power,  and  Wentworth's  devotion  to  this.  (From  the 
Forster  MSS.  at  South  Kensington,  printed  by  Prof.  S.  R. 
Gardiner  in  The  Academy,  June  2,  1877.) 

My  very  good  Lord 

As  for  many  your  other  favours,  soe  am  I  infinitely  much 
bownde  unto  you  for  the  honoure  of  your  lines,  see  multiplied  and 


APPENDIX  II.     5.  LETTER   ON  SIR  R.  FOULIS.     297 

with  soe  highe  a  hande  as  I  have  with  one  hold  receaved  three  of 
them  from  you,  thus  distant,  and  thus  little  able  to  serve  you,  an- 
swearable  to  ther  meritt. 

I  must  ever  acknowledge  with  all  possible  comfortt  his  Ma?Vjtyes 
goodnesse  towardes  me  in  this  matter  betwixt  Sz'r  David  Fowlis  and 
me,  and  humbly  thanke  your  herds Aip  for  the  particular  and 
authentike  relation  I  have  therof  from  you  ;  which  well  weighing 
with  myself  I  have  been  bold  to  write  the  inclosed  to  his  Mztestye 
which  will  be  much  graced,  if  you  be  pleased  to  present  itt  with  my 
humble  service  to  his  Mziestj. 

Nor  should  I  have  troubled  your  hords/np  hearin,  but  that  you 
are  pleased  to  take  sum  small  notice  of  the  man  ;  therfore  I  beseech 
your  hordsAi-p  lett  me  detaine  you  a  while  with  a  short  accompte 
of  this  businesse,  and  espetially  what  hath  paste  heare  sine  the 
gentlemans  cumming  from  London. 

Sir  David  Fowlis,  a  person  raysed  by  the  favoure  and  bownty  of 
the  Crowne  to  a  faire  and  plentifuU  fortune,  and  one  I  had  upon  all 
occasions  given  the  best  respectt  unto  I  could,  as  promising  myself 
helpe  and  assistance  from  him,  in  his  MazVi-ties  service,  it  seemed  to 
me  marvelouse  strange  to  heare  how  ill  and  mutinously  affected  he 
was  to  his  Maiestyes  rights  and  government,  soe  as  takinge  the 
reportte  either  to  be  mistaken,  or  to  be  grownded  upon  sum 
personall  mallice  I  gave  noe  greate  beleefe  or  regarde  thereunto  : 
untill  this  late  rioute  of  his  brake  forth  with  such  violence  and 
virulence,  as  might  not  with  my  dutye  be  longer  silenced.  The 
particulares  would  growe  tediouse,  but  in  the  word  of  truthe,  I 
take  them  to  be  as  highly  criminall,  being  only  civill,  as  maybe, 
nor  shall  I  need  to  say  more  for  the  presentt,  saving  that  he  was  as 
insolent  after  he  understoode  the  whole  matter  was  knowen  unto 
me,  as  maliciouse  and  malevolent  before  ;  albeit  I  confesse  you 
have  sent  him  me  downe  humbled  with  a  witnesse,  a  thing  ordinary 
indeed  with  thos  meane  natures  to  becum  as  low  under  the  cudgill 
as  penitentt^  wheare  they  pride  themselves  upon  the  advantadge 
grownde. 

The  manner  of  his  appearing  and  intertainment  heare  was  this  ; 
the  Counsell  and  myself  sett  upon  the  Commission  for  Recusantts, 
my  secretary  cam  to  me  and  tells  me  S?r  David  Fowlis  was  without, 
desirouse  to  speake  with  me,  which  in  good  faithe  at  first  I  could 
not  beleeve,  but  being  confirmed  it  was  soe,  I  sent  to  knowe 
wheather  it  was  anything  concerning  his  Mamtyes  service,  or  only 
concerning  myself ;  if  the  former,  I  was  ready  to  speake  with  him  ; 
if  the  latter  I  desired  to  be  excused.  His  answer  was,  it  was  both. 
Soe  I  caused  him  to  be  brought  inn,  and  being  called  to  the  borde, 
wee  saluted  him,  and  desired  him  to  sitt  downe  at  the  borde,  as 
being  one  of  the  Kings  Counsell ;  he  cam  up  to  me  wheare  I  satt 
and  gave  me  a  very  low  salute,  I  told  him  that  the  borde  was  the 
kings,  that  he  was  very  wellcum  and  might  sitt  downe. 

Sir  William  Ellis  lettinge  him  knowe  we  understood  he  had  sum- 

1  sic.  ;  qucere  impenitent  ? 


298    APPENDIX  11.     5.  LETTER  ON  SIR  R.   FOULIS. 

thing  to  acquaint  us  concerning  the  kings  service,  wished  him  to 
relate  what  he  had  to  say. 

S/r  Davide  then  professed  he  had  nothing  of  that  nature  to  impart 
unto  us,  and  that  he  only  cam  to  speake  to  me  in  sum  things  touch- 
ing our  owne  privats. 

Then  I  told  him  I  was  gladde  when  I  hearde  he  had  any  thing  to 
offer  for  the  service  of  our  Maister,  as  that  which  he  had  never 
seemed  to  looke  after,  sine  I  had  the  honoure  to  serve  him  in  this 
place,  allbeit  I  had  exspected  and  promised  myself  as  much  from  him 
in  that  nature  as  from  any  other  :  but  seeing  that  it  now  all  termin- 
ated in  pai-ticulares  of  our  owne,  the  kings  bord  was  noe  fitt  place 
for  thos  discourses  ;  therfore  I  desired  him  to  excuse  me,  the  matters 
betwixt  him  and  me  being  of  such  a  condition  as  should  not  be  heard 
betwixt  us  privately  in  a  chamber,  but  must  passe  the  file  of  his 
Maz>jties  Courtts  of  Justice,  and  soe  risse,^  went  my  way  and  left 
them. 

This  I  haue  been  more  induced  to  relate  prescisly  to  your  'Lord- 
shi-p,  in  regarde  the  condition  of  the  man  is  to  mistake  others  as 
much  as  himself,  and  to  speake  with  that  confidence  as  if  he  himself 
believed  he  spake  the  truthe,  and  that  whatever  the  report  be  he 
shall  make,  that  this  is  squarly  and  really  the  truthe. 

My  Lor^,  you  best  knowe  how  much  the  regall  power  is  be- 
cummed  infirm,  by  the  easye  way  such  have  founde,  who  with  rough 
hands  have  laid  hold  upon  the  flowers  of  itt,  and  with  unequall  and 
swaggering  paces  have  trampled  upon  the  rights  of  the  Crowne, 
and  how  necessary  examples  are,  (as  well  for  the  subject  as  the 
Soveraigne)  to  retaine  licentious  spiritts  within  the  sober  boundes  of 
humility  and  feare.  And  surely  if  in  any  othei-,  then  in  the  case  of 
this  man,  who  hath  the  most  wantonly,  the  most  disdainefully  de- 
meaned himself  towards  his  Ma?>j-tye  and  his  Ministers  that  is 
possible,  so  as  if  he  doe  not  taste  of  the  rodde,  itt  will  be  impossible 
to  have  his  MazVi'ties  Counsell  heare  to  be  obayed,  and  should  I  say 
lesse  weare  to  bestray  the  trust  my  maister  hath  honoured  me  with. 
I  heare  he  cries  out  of  oppression  ;  soe  did  my  'Lord  Fauconberge 
too,  your  Lordship  hearde  with  what  reason  or  truthe  ;  beleeve  me, 
this  man  hath  more  witt,  but  his  cause  is  soe  much  worse,  as  he 
hath  notwithstanding  lesse  to  say  for  himself;  in  this,  never  the 
lesse,  they  are  tied  by  the  tales  togeither  that  both  of  them  dared 
to  strike  the  crowne  upon  my  shoulders  without  being  at  all  con- 
cerned in  my  owne  interest,  or  having  any  other  partte  to  play  then 
such  as  innocense  and  patience  shall  suggest  unto  me.  And  truly 
give  me  leave  to  asseure  your  Lordship  I  have  much  reason  to 
carrye  my  eyes  along  with  me  whearever  I  goe,  and  to  exspectt  my 
actions  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  shall  all  be  cast  into  the 
ballance  and  tried  wheather  heavye  or  lighte.  Content  in  the 
name  of  God  !  Lett  them  take  me  up  and  cast  me  downe,  if  I  doe 
not  fall  square,  and  (to  use  a  word  of  artte)  paragon,  in  every  pointe 
of  my  duty  to  my  maister  :  nay,  if  I  doe  not  fully  complie  with  that 


APPENDIX  11.     5.  LETTER  ON  SIR  R.   FOULIS.     299 

publicke  and  common  protection  which  good  kings  afforde  their 
good  people,  let  me  perishe,  and  let  no  man  pitty  me.  In  the 
meane  time  none  of  thes  clamours  or  other  apprehensions  shall 
shake  me,  or  cause  me  to  decline  my  maisters  honour  and  service, 
therby  to  please  or  soothe  thes  populare  frantike  humoures,  and  if  I 
miscarry  this  way,  I  shall  not,  even  then,  be  founde  either  soe 
indulgent  to  myself,  or  soe  narrowly  harted  towards  my  maister,  as 
to  thinke  myself  too  good  to  die  for  him.     El  deve  bastar. 

I  confesse  indeed  S/r  Davide  shewed  himself  a  wise  man  in  apply- 
ing to  yoz/r  'Lordship  as  a  mediator  for  him  with  me,  being  a  noble 
freinde  who  I  am  ambitiouse  the  world  should  see  hath  power  as 
greate  and  absolute  as  with  any  other  servantt  you  have  ;  and  myself 
as  little  will  to  denie  any  thing  you  shall  move  me  unto,  as  is 
possible  ;  and  therefore  am  I  much  bownde  to  your  tender  respectt 
that  are  pleased  only  to  mention  a  reconsiliation,  rather  as  a  relation 
of  what  he  would  have  then  as  an  injunction  of  your  owne,  for 
which  I  humbly  thanke  you,  for  in  truthe  you  had  then  putt  me  too 
a  greate  straite  betwixt  my  will  to  obay  you,  and  my  care  of  the 
kings  service,  and  this  government,  w/zz'ch  I  exspectt  to  finde  now 
in  the  time  of  my  absence  much  shaken  or  much  confermed,  by  the 
hande  men  shall  observe  to  be  held  with  this  gentleman  in  the 
prosecution  of  this  cause,  W/^/ch  I  propose  to  beginn  wz'lh  him  in 
that  Courtt,  itt  seames  (and  w?th  good  reason)  he  most  feares, 
having  three  weekes  since  taken  a  subpena  forth  against  him.  Only 
this  I  will  protest  to  yo/^r  \^ordshi\>  in  the  wordes  of  truth,  I  have 
been  hithertoo  knowen  to  this  gentleman  only  by  curtesyes  ;  that  I 
beare  noe  mallice  to  his  person,  or  att  all  consider  my  owne  interests 
in  this  proceeding  (wy^/ch  in  truth  are  none  att  all)  but  simply  the 
honoure  and  service  of  his  Ma^Vj-ty,  and  the  seasonable  correcting 
an  humoure  and  libertye  I  finde  raigne  in  these  partts,  of  observing 
a  superiour  commande  noe  farther  than  they  like  themselves,  and  of 
questioning  any  profitt  of  the  Crowne,  called  upon  by  his  Ma?>j-ties 
ministers,  w/«'ch  might  inable  itt  to  subsiste  of  it  selfe,  without 
being  necessitated  to  accepte  of  such  conditions,  as  others  might 
vainly  thinke  to  impose  upon  itt.  Tis  true  this  way  is  displeasing 
for  the  presentt,  layes  me  open  to  calumnye  and  hatred,  causeth  me 
by  sum  ill  disposed  people,  to  bee,  it  may  be  ill  reported  ;  wheare 
as  the  contrary  would  make  me  passe  smothe  and  still  along  witVi- 
out  noyse  ;  but  I  have  not  soe  learnt  my  maister,  nor  am  I  soe  in- 
dulgent to  my  own  ease,  as  to  see  his  affaires  suffer  shipwracke 
whilste  I  myself  rest  secure  in  harboure.  Noe,  lett  the  tempest  be 
never  soe  greate,  I  will  much  rather  putt  forth  to  sea,  worke  forth 
the  storme,  or  at  least  be  founde  deade  with  the  rudder  in  my 
handes.  And  all  that  I  shall  desire  is  that  his  Ma/<?jty  and  my 
other  freinds  should  narrowly  observe  me,  and  see  if  ever  I  question 
any  man  in  my  owne  interests,  but  whear  they  are  only  interlaced 
as  accessoryes,  his  Ma/Vjties  service,  and  the  just  aspectte  towards 
the  publicke  and  duty  of  my  place  sett  before  them  as  principalis. 

But  alas,  my  Y.ord,  I  weary  you  extreamly  w/^/ch  you  will  please 
to  pardon,  being  entered  a  discourse  upon  a  subjectte  wA;ch  I 


300    APPENDIX  11.     No.   6.    ON  SIR  R.  FOULIS,  dfc. 

attende  next  the  saving  of  a  soule,  more  than  all  the  world  besides, 
and  should  I  lesse  take  it  to  hartte  I  weare  of  all  others  the  most 
unthankful!  wretche  to  soe  gratiouse  a  maister.  Craving  then  yont 
pardon  for  detaining  you  thus  long,  I  will  redeeme  my  faulte  with 
as  much  speed  as  I  may,  giving  you  this  unfained  testimony  and 
assurance  of  my  being 

Yowr  'Lordship?,  most  humble  and  most  faithfull  servantt, 

Wentworth. 
Yorke,  24  September,  1632. 

VI. 

24  Oct.  1632.  Lord  Wentworth  to  the  Earl  of  Carlisle.  His  de- 
votion to  the  King's  cause  ;  his  dislike  and  censure  of  Sir  David 
Fowlis  ;  his  appeal  for  Payler's  incest-fine  for  a  Church's  pair  of 
Organs.     State  Papers,  Domestic,  Chas.  I,  ccxxiv,  45. 

Yorke,  i^th  of  Octobox  1632. 

My  very  good  Lorde. 

The  excesse  of  your  fauoure  in  sending  your  footman  soe 
long  and  wearisum  a  jurney,  I  must  acknowledge,  and  contemplate 
your  Xordshiy^?,  noblenesse  to  your  absentt  seruantts  ;  soe  truly  and 
soe  thankfully,  as  to  keepe  my  self  in  a«  equall  temper,  (wheareuer 
god  and  his  MazVi-ty  shall  bestowe  me),  to  receaue  yota  commaunds 
wzth  all  chearfullnesse,  and  to  fullfill  them,  wzthall  readinesse  and 
care.  That  his  MazVj'tie  rests  satesfied  in  the  course  I  hold  in  this 
Gouernementt,  in  my  cheefest  Exaltation  before  men,  and  my 
fullest  contentmentt  in  my  inmost  retirementts.  And  surely  I  will 
neuer  omitt  continually  to  serue  him  his  owne  way,  wheare  I  once 
vnderstande  it ;  and  wheare  that  beame  leaues  me,  serue  hira  the 
most  profitable  way,  the  dimmer  lights  of  my  owne  iudgmentt 
shall  by  any  meanes  be  able  to  leade  me  vnto.  In  this  truthe  I  will 
liue  and  die ;  all  the  diuells  of  Hell,  all  ther  ministers  on  earth, 
shall  neuer  be  able  to  impeatche,  or  shake  itt. 

For  S/r  dauide  Fowlis,  the  vnfortunate  subiectt  of  partte  of  my 
letters  of  late,  when  I  consider  him  as  a  gentleman,  that  hath  re- 
ceaued  sum  respects  from  me,  neuer  the  least  iniurye,  I  pitty  him  ; 
when  I  consider  him  your  Lor^j-/zzps  kinsman,  in  that  relation  I  am 
hartely  sorrye  for  him  and  for  myself  too,  that,  being  soe  cordially 
an  honourour  of  yours  and  all  that  depende  on  you,  should  thus 
misaduenturousely  light  vpon  a  man,  that  hath  of  your  blood  run- 
ning in  his  vaines  :  yet  cannot  without  much  comfortt  in  myself 
wzthout  much  iniurye  to  you,  but  obserue  the  vigoure  of  your 
respectt  towards  me,  in  thus  passing  him  ouer  to  a  course  of  Justice, 
wAz'ch  libertye  you  bestowe  vpon  me,  and  w/^/ch  I  will  neuerthelesse 
exercise  w/th  such  modesty  and  moderation,  as  shall  shew  you  I  am 
as  farre  from  drinking  a  la  confusion  des  personnes,  as  the  frenche 
man  the  last  summer.  When  I  reade  his  letter  (w/^zch  of  your 
goodnesse  is  communicated  wzth  me)  I  finde  that  insolentt  vanitye 
of  his,  w^/ch  hath  brought  forth  all  this  trouble,  written  in  capitall 
letters.     He  sayth  it  was  to  the  admiration  of  all  men,  I  would  not 


APPENDIX  II.     No.  6.   ON  SIR  R.  FOULIS,   a^c.     301 

heare  him.  Alas,  I  did  heare  him  and  vsed  him  w/th  all  ciuility, 
but  ther  was  a  wonder,  (catholike  enoughe  indeed)  in  all  men,  to 
see  him  see  poorely,  and  meanly  humble  himself  in  the  same  toune, 
wheare  within  a  iew  weekes  before  he  had  as  insolenttly  demeaned 
himself,  I  dare  confidently  say,  more  insolently,  then  euer  any  of 
his  MazVj'ties  Counsell  heare,  and  a  deputye  Lieutenante  had  dun  to 
the  Presidentt,  and  Kings  Lieutenantt. 

But,  good  man,  heare  is  the  ieste,  he  tells  vs,  that  by  taking  this 
businesse  into  his  owne  hande,  his  MazV^tye  shall  make  a  purchaise 
of  him  ;  a  purchaise  weth  a  witnesse,  soe  clogged  wz'th  wretched 
wofull  incumbrances  as  makes  it  nothing  worthe.  He  will  leade 
and  perswade  others,  he  will  by  his  example  much  better  the  kings 
seruice,  leaues  it  to  be  considered  by  the  beste  affected  how  much 
his  disgrace  might  hurtt  his  Maz>^tyes  seruice.  Lord,  wz'th  Esopes 
flie  vpon  the  axeltree  of  the  wheele,  what  a  dust  he  makes  ?  whear 
are  thos  he  can  leade  or  persuade  ?  take  him  out  of  the  Commission 
of  the  Peace,  (the  instrument  of  terroure  by  which  he  pulled  them 
on  along  wz'th  him  by  the  noses),  he  gouerned  himself  wzth  such 
exactte  pride  and  distemper  amongst  them,  that  in  good  faith  I 
verely  beleeue  that  ther  are  not  halfe  a  score,  that  would  either 
followe  or  be  perswaded  by  him.  as  for  his  example  of  life,  itt  was 
soe  vertuouse,  or  so  viciouse,  as  I  beleeue  wee  might  finde  hundreths 
scandalled  sooner,  then  one  betterd  by  it.  and  surely  if  he  leaue  it 
to  be  considered  by  the  best  affected,  ther  verdict  willbe,  his  MazVjtye 
shall  contribute  more  to  his  owne  auctority,  by  making  him  an  ex- 
ample of  his  iustice,  then  can  possibly  be  gained  by  taking  him  inn 
againe.  But  this  is  an  arrogance  growen  frequent  now  adayes, 
w/??ch  I  cannot  indure,  euery  ordinary  man  must  putt  himself  in 
ballance  wz'th  the  king,  as  if  it  weare  a  measuring  cast,  betwixt 
them,  whoe  weare  like  to  proue  the  greater  loosers  vpon  the  parting, 
let  me  then  cast  this  graine  of  truthe  inn,  and  it  shall  turn  the  Scale. 
Silly  wretches,  let  vs  not  deceaue  our  selues,  the  kings  seruice  can- 
not suffer  by  the  disgrace  of  him  and  me  and  forty  more  such,  the 
grownde  whearvpon  gouernment  standes  will  not  soe  easilye  be 
washed  away,  soe  as  the  sooner  wee  vnfoole  ourselues  of  this 
errore,  the  sooner  wee  shall  learne  to  know  our  selues,  and  shake 
of  that  self  pride  w///ch  hath  to  our  owne  esteeme,  represented  vs 
much  bigger,  more  considerable,  then  in  deed  ther  is  cause  for. 

But  the  world  will  speake  of  his  sufferings,  who  hath  dun  soe 
inuch  seruice  for  the  Crowne,  and  that  a  submission,  w/th  a  sure 
promise  to  amende  willbe  more  honorable,  his  sufferings  are  not 
like  to  be  other,  then  such  as  shallbe  measured  forth  vnto  him  by 
the  equall  and  streighte  rule  of  Iustice,  and  then  who  can  he  faulte 
but  himself?  what  he  hath  merited  of  the  Crowne  in  former  times  I 
knowe  not,  but  I  am  sure  it  is  visible  he  hath  serued  himself  to  a 
faire  fortune  by  the  meanes  of  the  crowne,  and  that  of  late  sine  I 
cam  heather,  I  haue  hearde  of  many  disseruices,  but  not  any  one 
seruice  he  hath  paid  backe  vnto  the  Crowne.  It  is  true  indeed  he 
hath  been  content  to  bagge  vp  fiue  or  sixe  thousande  poundes  of  the 
Kings  money,  kept  itt  close  in  his  stomacke  this  twenty  yeares,  in 


302     APPENDIX  IL     No.  7.    ON  SIR  PIERS  CROSBY. 

plaine  termes  cheated  the  king  of  it,  and  now  it  seemes,  that  Spiritt 
being  cuniured  forth  of  his  pockett  againe,  he  bound  to  pay  it  inn  ; 
hath  occasioned  all  this  foule  wheather  w/^/ch  he  hath  blowen  vpon 
other  the  innocent  Ministers  of  his  Maz>j-ty  in  other  remote  quarters, 
not  daring  to  breathe  the  least  blaste  of  it  vpon  thos  taller  Cedars, 
that  had  soe  ouerlooked  him  as  to  finde  him  out  when  he  least 
dreamt  of  it.  And  for  his  sure  promise  of  amends,  trust  him  that 
list,  for  he  that  hath  falsified  all  thos  great  obligations,  let  him  self 
loosse  from  thos  strongest  bonds  of  Loue  and  thankfullnesse,  I  shall 
neuer  flatter  my  self  to  hold  him  faste  by  the  sliperye  ties  of  feare  and 
strained  professions  ;  and  soe  I  leaue  him,  and  buy  or  purchaise  him 
that  lists,  for  my  partte  he  shall  neuer  cost  me  farthing,  or  a  line 
more  Laboure. 

My  lor^,  hear  was  one  Payler  fined  by  the  hie  Commission  looo/z. 
for  an  incest,  this  fine,  vpon  a  sute  of  this  Churche  was  by  his 
Ma2<?J-ty  bestowed  vpon  them,  for  buying  a  paire  of  Organs,  adorning 
the  Altar,  and  such  sacred  vses.  you  may  be  informed  by  the  in- 
closed how,  and  by  whom  it  is  indeuoured  to  be  carried  an  other 
way.  Good  my  lor^,  be  soe  farre  a  Patron  to  this  Churche,  as  if 
you  heare  any  thing  of  it,  cast  in  a  worde  to  conferme  his  Ma;>J-ty  in 
soe  gratiouse  and  a  piouse  an  intention.  I  will  detaine  yoz/r  Xord- 
shi-^  noe  longer  then  in  all  truthe  to  asseure  you  that  I  am, 

Youx  lordships,  most  faithfull  most  humble  seruantt 

Wentworth. 

(Endorsed)  L^//re  Lcrd  Wentworth  to  the  Earle  of  Carlisle, 
Yorke,  24th  October,  1632. 

VII. 

12  April  1639.  Viscount  Wentworth  to  Chief  Justice  Sir  John 
Bramston  on  his  (Lord  W.'s)  suit  against  Sir  Piers  Crosby. 
(Printed  in  the  Newbery  House  Magazine,  from  the  original  in 
the  possession  of  Mrs.  Bramston. ) 

My  very  good  Lord, 

The  cause  betwixt  S/r  Piers  Crosby  others  and  myselfe, 
is  now  at  last  to  fall  in  Judgment  before  yo?^r  L^^rd^/zzps  in  the 
Starr  Chamber  towards  the  beginning  of  this  next  Terme.  And 
then  I  trust,  by  God's  Grace,  to  be  quitt  from  one  of  the  most 
impudent  and  false  Conspiracys  that,  as  I  think,  was  ever  hatched 
against  soe  great  a  Minister  as  the  Deputy  of  Irelande  is,  how 
meane  soever  my  person  in  my  private  Capacity  should  be.  And 
sure,  when  I  Consider  how  wickedly  I  have  been  delt  wz'th-all,  it 
has  been  God's  Great  Goodness  :  not  any  Innocency  or  Providence 
of  my  owne  that  hath  delivered  me  out  of  their  hands.  For  I  con- 
fesse  it  never  fell  into  my  thoughts  that  any  man  Could  have  beene 
soe  wicked,  as  to  have  sworne  that  I  either  hurt  or  Struck  Esmond, 
being  soe  notoriously  and  prodigeously  false  as,  had  not  y^  De- 
fendants pleading  not  guilty,  brought  the  Publishing  of  y^  Scandall 


APPENDIX  II.     No.   7.    ON  SIR  PIERS  CROSBY.     303 

to  be  only  in  Issue  amonst  us,  I  had  been  able  to  have  fully  dis- 
proved that  Single  Knight  of  the  Post  suborned  against  me  by  (I 
daresay)  a  dozen  witnesses  of  Credit  at  least,  as  I  have  allready  in 
the  books  by  His  MarV^ties  Secretary  of  State,  and  another,  though 
my  Stevi^arde,  yet  an  Approved  Honest  and  Faithful!  person ;  and 
verily,  my  Lord,  I  on  this  Good  Friday  (a  Day  whereon  it  pleased 
God  to  bring  me  forth  into  this  world,  and  the  Eternall  Sonn  of  the 
Father  died  for  the  Sinnes  of  this  world).  Renounce  all  the  Blessings 
of  this  Passion,  if  ever  1  did,  or  had  it  in  my  thought,  to  strike 
Esmonde  ;  And  when  y^  poore  wand  [shall  be  shewen  in  Court 
whervvz'th  I  must  have  beaten  the  man  to  death,  the  impudent 
untruth  will  further  appeare  unto  you.  But  all  this  is  extra-iuditiall, 
and  therefore  I  will  trouble  you  noe  further,  only  become  an  humble 
Suitour  that  your  Lcrdi-/^?p  will  be  at  the  hearing  of  the  Cause,  and 
there  Afford  me  the  Justice  that  in  Honour  &  Truth  youx  L(?rd^/^rp 
will  iudge  me  worthy  of  My  Lord,  I  wish  yo?<r  Lord^/^z'p  all 
increase  of  Greatnesse  and  Happynesse,  allways  remaining 
Your  L^rdj/«ps  very  faithfull  humble  servant, 

Wentworth. 
Fairwood  Parke,  12th  0/ April  1639. 


304 


INDEX. 

By   Mr.    B.    SAGAR. 


Abbot,  Archbishop,  concerning 
his  disgrace  at  court,  49 

Absolute  Government,"  Ireland 
to  be  the  scene  of  "  an,  109 

Admiration,"  calculated  to  "be- 
get an  awful,  79 

Advice  to  his  nephew  (Want- 
worth's),  65 

"Anagram  of  a  good  face," — 
Wentworth  quotes  Donne's,  in 
a  dispatch  to  Laud,  205 

Annesley,  Mr.,  an  attendant  of 
Wentworth's,  accidentally 

drops  a  stool  on  Wentworth's 
gouty  foot,  192 

Antrim,"  Earl  of,  "a  foolish," 
whom  Charles  sends  to  "assist " 
Wentworth,  219 

Apostacy,  "much  good  wrath  is 
thrown  away  on  what  is  usually 
called ;  61 

Appearance,  personal,  Went- 
worth's, 127 

Appendix  I. — Wentworth's  dis- 
patch to  Charles  on  his  (Went- 
worth's) humble  opinion  con- 
cerning parliament  in  Ireland, 
279—85  ;  ditto  II.  selected 
papers  and  letters  by  Went- 
worth, 287 — 302 

Aristocracy,  Wentworth's  policy 
of  opposition  to  the,  172 

Armagh,  the  Bishop  of,  is  with 
Strafiford  on  the  scaffold,  276 

Army,  Condition  of  the  Irish, 
100 ;  Wentworth  turns  his 
attention  to,  175 


Arundel,  Earl  of,  his  presence  at 
Strafford's  trial,  as  high-con- 
stable of  England,  244 

Atkinson,  Mr.  Robert,  the  Earl's 
grandfather,  i 

Bacon,  Sir  Francis,  appeals  for 
the  due  administration  of 
justice  in  the  courts,  12;  pre- 
vails on  the  King  to  summon 
another  (his  second)  parliament, 

17 
Baillie,    on  Strafford's  approach 
and   entry   into   the  House  at 
the  time  of  his  impeachment, 
240 ;    his  report   of  Charles's 
presence  at  the  trial,  242,  251, 
252,  260 
Balfour,  Lord,  112,  113 
Baltimore,  Lord,  letter  to  Went- 
worth, 50,  51 
Bates,  a  merchant,  refusing  to  pay 
duties  to  James  I.,  is  refused 
justice  by  the  judges,  12 
Beaumont,  Sir  Richard,  39 
Bellasis,     Sir     Henry,    69 ;     his 

insult  to  Wentworth,  85-6 
Benevolences,"   exaction   of,    29 

Bens,  "Prynnes,  Pims,  and ," 

21,  161 
Bishoprics,    the   value   of   Irish, 

169 
Bouchier,  Sir  John,  113 
Boynton,  Sir  Matthew,  71 
Brodie,  Mr.,   History  of  British 
Empire,   19,  24,  25,  94,  117; 
on    the    heaviness    of    Went- 


INDEX, 


305 


worth's  (Strafford's)  dispatches, 

234 

Browning,  helped  Forster  in  Life 
of  Strafford,  v — x  ;  Letter  of, 
viii ;  Browning  Societies,  Lon- 
don and  Boston,  xi 

Buckingham,  Duke  of,  26-7  ;  his 
influence  over  Charles,  38 ; 
makes  Wentworth  Sheriff  of 
Yorkshire,  40 ;  clearly,  strongly 
disliked  Wentworth,  xviii,  48  ; 
his  objections  to  Wentworth  are 
set  aside,  58  ;  his  death  referred 
to,  58,  60 ;  his  assassination 
by  Felton,  81  ;  letter  to,  from 
Wentworth,  urging  his  claim 
to  retain  his  place  of  Ct(stos 
Rotulorum,  Appendix  IL,  287 ; 
his  death,  xxiii 

Burnet,  note  by,  on  the  trial, 
267 

Butler,  George,  a  friend  of  Went- 
worth's,  is  written  to  by  him, 
on  earthly  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, 204 

Calvert,  Sir  George,  28,  34 ; 
Mr.  Secretary,  xvii,  69,  71,  72 

Carleton,  Secretary,  tells  Straf- 
ford, the  King  has  assented  to 
his  death,  272 

Carlisle,  Earl  of,  Wentworth's 
letter  to,  on  the  case  of  Sir 
David  Foulis,  &c.,  App.  IL, 
296  ;  and  his  letter  to  the  same 
on  his  (Wentworth's)  devotion 
to  the  Crown,  &c.,  300 

Carlisle,  Lady,  wife  of  the  Earl 
of  Carlisle,  had  secretly  become 
Wentworth's  mistress,  Ixvii, 
Ixviii,  118;  one  of  the  "favour- 
ites" of  Wentworth,  124;  her 
characteristics,  129;  Dryden 
and  Waller  on,  129 ;  Lord 
Conway  may  show  to  her  a 
letter  of  Wentworth  referring 
to  some  "merry  tale,"  213 

Carne,  Mr.,  69 

Cato  Censorius,  Wentworth's 
queried  title  for  himself,  195 


Cattermole,    Mr.,     "my    friend 

,"  the  artist,  referred   to, 

240 

Cecil  tries  to  effect  compromise 
with  the  Commons  ;  presses  for 
subsidies,  14 ;  his  exorbitant 
demands,  15  ;  destroys  the 
foreign  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment, 30 

Ceremonial,  Court,  Wentworth 
institutes,  in  Dublin,  135 

Charles  L  ascends  the  throne, 
38  ;  is  favourably  inclined  to 
Wentworth,  40 ;  his  liberal 
bestowment  of  honours  in  Ire- 
land, 79  ;  his  revenue  increased 
by  Wentworth's  administration 
in  Yorkshire,  95  ;  re-models  his 
counsels  consequent  on  Went- 
worth's success  in  the  northern 
presidency,  97-8 ;  his  scheme 
for  governing  the  three  divisions 
of  the  kingdom,  98  ;  offers 
Wentworth  the  government  of 
Ireland,  which  he  accepts,  98  ; 
sends  Falkland  to  Dublin,  100  ; 
his  hatred  of  parliaments,  loi  ; 
his  order  to  the  Lords  Justices 
of  Ireland  on  Wentworth's 
appointment,  104;  his  weak- 
ness and  insincerity  distrusted 
by  Wentworth,  137  ;  his  aver- 
sions to  parliaments,  142-4 ; 
Wentworth's  dispatch  to  the 
issue  of  second  parliament  ses- 
sion, 160 ;  refuses  an  earldom 
to  Wentworth,  172-3;  shows 
signs  of  wishing  to  discontinue 
the  Irish  parliament,  189 ; 
Wentworth's  dispatch  to,  011 
ship-money,  203 ;  refuses  for 
second  time  to  make  Went- 
worth an  eaid,  203 ;  becomes 
more  under  the  influence  of  the 
Queen,  who  is  against  Went- 
worth, 208  ;  grudges  to  Laud 
Wentworth's  share  of  profit 
from  the  Irish  customs,  211  ; 
whilst  secretly  authorizing 
Wentworth's  acts  of  despotism, 
X 


3o6 


INDEX. 


he  was  known  to  be  against 
their  author — writes  to  Laud 
thereon,  214-5  ;  meditates  a 
war  with  Spain  for  the  re- 
covery of  the  palatinate,  but 
is  dissuaded  therefrom  by 
Wentworth,  215  ;  finds  that 
Wentworth  is  his  great  hope, 
and  determines  to  have  him 
with  him  in  England,  220; 
unsolicited,  he  invests  Went- 
worth with  an  earldom,  226  ; 
his  anxiety  respecting  Straf- 
ford's health,  236';  appoints 
him  to  command  against  the 
Scots,  236  ;  orders  Strafford  to 
cease'  operations,  and  summons 
a  new  parliament,  232  ;  assures 
Strafford  that  "not  a  hair  of 
his  head  shall  be  touched," 
239  ;  failure  of  some  prelimi- 
nary negotiations  by  Charles 
for  the  rescue  of  Strafford,  243  ; 
writes  Strafford  that  he  "shall 
not  suffer  in  life,  honour,  or 
fortune,"  1,  252  ;  addresses  the 
Lords  on  Strafford's  guilt, 
264-5  5  proposes  to  the  Lords, 
after  having  signed  the  bill  of 
attainder,  to  have  Strafford 
imprisoned  for  life,  268  ;  gives 
way  to  public  opinion,  li ;  on 
Charles's  conduct  throughout, 
269-70  ;  his  conduct  was  "  in- 
credibly monstrous,"  272  ;  pub- 
lic morality  in  his  reign,  ix 

Chaucer,  was  evidently  one  of 
Wentworth's  favourite  poets, 
196-7 

Chichester,  Lord,  117 

Cholmondeley,  Lady,  118 

Church  courts,  rigour  of,  in  Ire- 
land, 99 

Circumstance,  the  prism  of,  re- 
marks on  the  nature  and  effects 
of,  61 

Clanricarde,  Lord,  his  death 
"from  a  broken  heart,"  199 

Clare,  Earl  of  (his  father-in- 
law),  38,  41,  68 


Clare,  Lady,  his  mother-in-law, 
desires  to  take  charge  of  his 
elder  girl,  letter  to,  thereon, 
and  on  his  children  generally, 
220,  225 

Clare,  Lord,  Strafford's  brother- 
in-law,  his  opinion  on  the  dis- 
pute between  Wentworth  and 
Mountnorris,  194 ;  his  sug- 
gested meaning  of  the  vital 
words  "his  kingdom,"  during 
the  trial,  257 

Clarendon,  Lord,  on  Strafford's 
health,  236-7 ;  and  on  his 
march  northwards  against  the 
Scots,  238-9 

Clark,  Baron,  law-lord  of  James 
L,  12 

Cleveland,  the  Earl  of,  Went- 
worth's cousin,  letter  to,  on  Sir 
D.  Foulis,  91  ;  is  with  Straf- 
ford on  the  scaffold,  276 

Clifford,  Lord,  brother-in-law  of 
Wentworth,  31,  50,  71,  72 

Coat-and-conduct  money,  xli 

Coke,  Sir  Edward,  30 ;  the  dis- 
grace of,  30,  41,  42 

Cole,  Sir  William,  "  mutinies  the 
country  against  the  King's 
service,"  1 14 

Commissioners  for  the  forced 
Loan,  Wentworth's  letter  to, 
he  is  too  ill  to  attend  them  at 
York,  291 

"Conquered  Country,"  Ireland 
a,  142,  154 

Consistency,  Wentworth  '''"was 
consistent  to  hi?nself  through- 
oiit,^^  60 

Conway,  Lord,  on  Lady  Carlisle 
and  the  court,  129-30;  to 
Wentworth,  on  his  gout,  sends 
him  the  Duke  of  Rohan's  book 
Le  parfait  Capitaine,  and  is 
cognisant  of  Wentworth's  "  in- 
trigues," 213;  Wentworth's 
letter  to,  asking  for  the  place  of 
Lord  President  of  the  North, 
290 ;  defeated  at  Newburn, 
xl 


INDEX. 


307 


Conway,  Sir  Edward,  letter  to, 
from  Wentworth,  32 

Cooke,  Mr.  Secretary,  letter  to, 
20 ;  presses  for  subsidies,  56  ; 
letter  to,  on  patience,  &c.,  67  ; 
Wentworth's  letter  to,  on  Sir 
D.  Foulis,  91  ;  to  Wentworth 
on  his  powers,  &c.,  in  Ireland, 
112  ;  Wentworth  writes  to,  on 
an  Irish  parliament,  145, 
158-59 ;  diligently  supplies 
Wentworth  with  information, 
176;  Wentworth  to,  on  the 
case  of  Mountnorris,  195-6 

Cork,  Earl  of.  Lord  High 
Treasurer  of  Ireland,  rigorous 
oppressor  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics, 103  ;  Strafford's  feuds  with 
him,  Iviii — Ixii ;  is  reprimand- 
ed for  neglect  by  Wentworth, 
108  ;  Wentworth  destroys  the 
family  tomb  of,  165  ;  is  com- 
pelled by  Wentworth  to  "re- 
store" an  annual  value  of 
;^2000,  171 

Cottington,  Chancellor  of  Ex- 
chequer, Wentworth's  practise 
of  sending  duplicate  dispatches 
to,  68,  85,  88,  90,  113 ;  Went- 
worth  writes  to,  on  Irish 
sport,  159  ;  Wentworth  to,  on 
Charles's  refusing  him  an  earl- 
dom, 174  ;  letter  to  Wentworth, 
176  ;  on  Weston's  death,  178  ; 
on  the  Mountnorris  incident, 
198  ;  gives  to  Charles  ;,^6ooo, 
as  "purchase-money"  for  the 
succession  to  Mountnorris's 
offices,  199,  226 

Court  of  high  commission, 
Wentworth  introduces,  into 
Ireland,  165 

Cowell,  Dr.,  book  by,  urging 
monstrous  doctrines  on  the 
subject  of  kingly  power,  and 
the  suppression  of  the  book, 

I3»  14 
Croker,   Mr.,   Crofton's,  transla- 
tion  of   some   French   travels 
bearing  on   state   of    Ireland, 


157 ;  his  MSS.  quoted,  on 
Wentworth's  palatial  residence, 
210 

Crosby,  Sir  Piers,  Wentworth's 
sneer  at  him,  197 

Cumberland,  Earl  of,  his  father- 
in-law,  4 

Cunctative,    Wentworth  will    be 

"very and  cautious,"  in 

the  business  of  an  Irish  parlia- 
ment, 145 

Custos  Rotulorum,  25,  26,  44-5, 
287,  289 

D'Arcy,  Lord,  letter  to,  from 
Wentworth  on  the  dissolution 
of  second  parliament,  32 

Darcy,  Sir  Francis,  73 

Despot,  Wentworth  was  a,  138, 
165 

Digby,  Lord,  on  Strafford's 
offences,  264 

Discord,  theological,  in  Ireland, 

99 
Dispossession  of  Irish  proprietors 

of  estates,  loi 
Donne,       Dr.,      Wentworth     is 

"amazingly      fond      of      his 

poetry,"  and  has  copies  sent  to 

him   in    Ireland,    188,    196-7 ; 

his  "  anagram  of  a  good  face," 

205 
Drunkenness  has  largely  increased 

in    Ireland,    213;    is   strongly 

condemned     by     Wentworth, 

214 
Dryden,   the  poet,   called    Lady 

Carlisle  the    "  Helen   of    her 

country,"  129 

Ears  cut  off,  as  punishment  to 
Puritans,  168 

Eliot  (Sir  John?),  33;  success- 
fully opposes  Wentworth's 
election  for  Yorkshire,  39 ; 
proposes  impeachment  of  Buck- 
ingham, 40 ;  Wentworth  refers 
to  him  in  a  letter  to  Secretary 
Cooke,  227;  "noble  imagin- 
ings," 278 


3o8 

Ellesmere,  Lord-Chancellor,  25 

Ely,  Viscount,  Lord-Chancellor 
of  Ireland,  his  rigorous  op- 
pression of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics, 103  ;  reprimanded  by 
Wentworth,  108 

Epsley,  Gabriel,  hawks  with 
Wentworth,  159 

Error,  the  "fatal  state  error"  of 
abruptly  dissolving  the  parlia- 
ment of  1640,  236 

Excise,  an  object  of  mortal  hatred 
with  the  L-ish,  i?o 

Exeter,  Earl  of,  letter  to,  by 
Wentworth,  127 

Ezzelin,  at  this  time,  changed 
totally  his  disposition,  61 
(what  of  Sordello  T) 

Fairfax,  Sir  Thomas,  26  ;  Went- 
worth writes  to,  respecting 
standing  as  Knight  of  the 
Shire,  72 

Falkland,  Lord,  is  sent  by 
Charles  to  Dublin,  lOO;  returns 
to  England,  103,  117 

Faulconberg,  Lord,  Wentworth's 
treatment  of  his  son,  85-6, 
114,  116,  173 

Felton,  — ,  assassinator  of  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  81 

Fidelity,  Wentworth's,  to  his 
wives,  126 

Finch  acts  as  "go-between," 
58 

Fingal,  Earl  of,  protests  against 
Wentworth's  projected  mea- 
sures, 153 

Flax,  Wentworth  grows  and 
manufactures  at  his  own  costs, 
182 

Fleming,  Baron,  law  lord  of 
James  L,  12 

Fonsail,  Lord  of,  joins  Went- 
worth in  his  hawking  party,  159 

Forster,  Richard,  workman  on 
Wentworth's  Yorkshire  estates, 
185 

Forster's  Life  of  Strafford,  v — • 
ix  ;  Life  of  Eliot,  xiii 


LNDEX. 


Foulis,  Sir  David,  seeks  to  im- 
pair the  royal  power,  xxv  ;  his 
action  towards  Wentworth,  86- 
7,  88—90 

France,  a  conclusion  of  peace 
with,  and  Spain,  98 

Frecheville,  Sir  Peter's  letter 
to  the  Earl's  father  on  his 
knighthood,  4 

Friendship.s  of  statesmen,  162 

Galway,  the  Sheriff  of,  his  death 
attributed  to  Wentworth's  im- 
prisonment of  him,  199 

Gardiner,  Prof.,  vi — viii,  xi 

Garrard,  Rev.  Mr.,  a  "gossiping 
person,"  Wentworth  hires  as  a 
retainer  to  furnish  him  with 
gossip,  134  ;  Wentworth's 
"newsmonger,"  166,  177,  188  ; 
quotes  Donne  to  Wentworth, 
197 

Genius,  Wentworth's,  perverted 
by  birth  and  education,  162 

Gififord,  Sir  John,  brings  a  suit 
against  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
212 

Gookin,  Sir  Vincent,  the  case  of, 
161 

Gore,  Sir  Thomas,  173 

Gower,  vSir  Thomas,  high  sheriff 
of  York,  69 

Graces,  all  the,  prejudicial  to 
the  crown  are  laid  "  sound 
asleep,"  160 

Grandison,  Lord,  117 

Greenwood,  Mr.  ( ?  per  p.  19) 
Charles,  the  Earl's  tutor,  3,  5, 
19  ;  a  letter  by  Wentworth  to, 
21,  22,  92  ;  Wentworth  writes 
to,  respecting  conduct  of  his 
Yorkshire  estates,  185 

Grievances,  redress  of  Irish, 
1 00- 1 

Habeas  Corpus,  the  Commons 
complain  of  delay  in  granting 
writs  of,  14 

Hncket,  his  wrong  account  of 
Wentworth,  59 


INDEX. 


309 


Hakewill  opposes  Sir  Francis 
Bacon's  appeal  for  the  due 
administration    of  justice,    12- 

Hamilton,  Marquis  of,  is  governor 
for  Scotland  under  Charles's 
scheme,  98,  226,  237 

Hampden,  33  ;  Wentworth 
wishes  he  and  others  well 
whipped  into  their  right  senses, 
207 

Haughton,  Lord,  letter  to  Went- 
worth, 50 

Henry  IV.  (of  France)  assassin- 
ated, 5 

Hesilrige,  Sir  Arthur,  introduces 
Strafford's  Bill  of  Attainder, 
xlviii 

Heylin,  his  wrong  account  of 
Wentworth,  59 

High  treason,  Strafford  is  im- 
peached of,  by  Pym,  240 

Holland,  Lord,  the  Queen's 
favourite  counsellor,  insinuates 
Wentworth  is  subject  to  oc- 
casional touches  of  madness, 
208 ;  intrigues  against  Strafford, 

237 

Hollis,  Arabella,  Wentworth's 
second  wife,  38  ;  her  second 
accouchement,  a  daughter,  52  ; 
presents  Wentworth   with   his 

.  second  son  and  third  child, 
93  ;  ditto,  his  fourth  child  and 
second  daughter,  94 ;  her  death, 

94 

Hollis,  Denzil,  38,  52;  (Straf- 
ford's brother-in-law)  is  con- 
sulted by,  and  advises  with,  the 
King  on  Strafford's  parliament, 
267 

Houses  of  Parliament,  riotous 
scene,  xlvii,  xlviii 

Howelliancp,  Epistola,  extract 
from,  on  Wentworth's  being 
made  Viscount,  78 

Hutton,  Sir  Richard,  letter  to 
Wentworth  on  his  Viscount- 
ship,  81 

"  Hypochondriack        humours," 


Wentworth  to  Charles  on  his, 

208-9 

"Ifs,"  Laud's  rejoinder  to  Went- 
worth's, "if  this,  that,  and  the 
other,"  163-4 

Impeached,  Strafford  is,  for 
high  treason  by  Pym,  240 

Impeachment,  privilege  of, 
wrested  from  (Irish)  Lords  and 
Commons,  161 

"Impositions,"  bill  against, 
passed  by  the  Commons,  re- 
jected by  the  Lords,  13 

Incest,  one  Padley  is  fined  ;({^iooo 
for,  Appendix  II.,  302 

Ingram,  Sir  Arthur,  40,  73 

Intrigue,  Wentworth  was  a 
man  of,  123 

Intrigues  arise  against  Wentworth 
at  Court,  94,  96 

Ireland,  Wentworth  accepts  the 
government  of,  from  Charles, 
98 ;  general  condition  of,  at 
this  time,  98 — 100  ;  condition 
of  its  army,  100;  voluntary 
money  contributions  offered  to 
Charles,  loi  ;  which  were 
subsequently  declared  an  intol- 
erable burthen,  102  ;  Lord 
Falkland,  driven  from  power, 
returned  to  England,  103  ;  the 
scene  of  an  absolute  govern- 
ment, 109  ;  departures  of 
nobility  from,  without  license, 
prohibited,  139  ;  a  "conquered 
country,"  142;  Wentworth's 
Irish  parliament  assembles, 
July,  1634,  154 ;  his  advice 
to  it,  xxiv,  xxix ;  the  Irish 
army  improved  by  Wentworth, 
175  ;  great  increase  in  receipts 
from  customs,  179  ;  tobacco  is 
taxed,  brewing  also,  180  ;  a 
mint  is  erected  in,  180 ;  manu- 
facture of  flax  and  hemp  en- 
couraged, 181  ;  the  annual 
revenue  exceeds  expenditure 
by  ;^6o,ooo,  184  ;  Connaughr, 
Mayo,   and  Sligo    are  juggled 


3IO 


INDEX. 


into  the  absolute  possession  of 
the  crown,  190-1  ;  Wentworth 
.leaves  Ireland  temporarily  in 
charge  of  Wandesford,  199;  he 
returns  thereto,  206  ;  drunken- 
ness becomes  epidemic  in,  213  ; 
Wentworth's  dispatch  to  Charles 
concerning  a  parliament  in 
Ireland,  is  the  Appendix  I., 
279,  285 

James  I.'s  accession  to  the  English 
throne,  his  shrewdness  and  per- 
sonal characteristics,  ix,  6,  7  ; 
his  counterblast  to  toljacco,  &c., 
7  ;  his  personal  appearance, 
8,9;  his  first  proclamation  for 
the  assembly  of  parliament,  9  ; 
is  warned  of  his  imprudence, 
&c.,  9  ;  he  had  no  clear  here- 
ditary right  to  the  crown,  90  ; 
declared  himself  ' '  a  vice-regent 
of  God,"  10  ;  his  constant 
wrangles  with  the  Commons, 
10 — 14  ;  his  '*  exquisite  phil- 
osophy," 16  ;  his  court,  its 
profligacy,  the  ladies  of,  their 
laxity  of  virtue  and  drunken- 
ness, 16  ;  dissolution  of  his 
first  parliament,  16  ;  his  second 
parliament,  1621,  29  ;  dissolves 
his  second  parliament,  31  ;  his 
hunting  at  Rufford,  35  ;  his 
death    not    mentioned^    about, 

37,38 

Jones,  Inigo,,  Wentworth  van- 
quishes in  a  discussion  on  archi- 
tecture, 188 

Journals  of  the  parliamentary 
session  (1610-11?),  loss  of,  15 

Juggarstowne  Castle,  the  palatial 
residence  of  Wentworth,  210 

Junto,  the  name  given  to  the 
council  formed  of  Wentworth, 
Laud  and  Hamilton,  225 

Juxon,  Bishop  of  Durham,  is 
appointed  Lord  Treasurer  in 
place  of  Weston,  deceased, 
178  ;  is  present  at  the  council 
which    decided     to    call    an 


English    parliament    on     the 
Scots  affairs,  226 

Killala,  Bishop  of,  is  reprimanded 
by  Wentworth  for  defrauding 
his  see,  171 

Knight  service,  tenure  by,  is 
retained,  15 

Knights,  hereditary,  created,   16 

Lake,  Sir  Thomas,  73 

Laud,  Wentworth  sends  duplicate 
dispatches  to,  68 ;  his  rising 
influence  with  Charles  L,  82; 
his  letters  to  Strafford,  Ixvi ; 
Wentworth's  letter  to,  on  Sir 
David  Foulis,  90 ;  is  the 
minister  governing  England 
under  Charles's  scheme,  98 ; 
letter  to  Wentworth  on  his 
third  marriage,  122  ;  is  made 
archbishop,  133 ;  on  the  re- 
ceipt of  Wentworth's  dis- 
patch, 152;  sincere  in  his 
counsels  to  Charles,  161-2; 
his  friendship  for  Wentworth, 
162  ;  his  horrible  persecutions 
of  the  Puritans,  166  ;  appoints 
Juxon,  Bishop  of  Durham,  to 
be  Lord  Treasurer,  178; 
cautions  Wentworth  against 
the  enmity  of  Mountnorris, 
198 ;  Wentworth  writes  to, 
respecting  his  second  applica- 
tion for  an  earldom,  203 ;  Went- 
worth to,  on  Hampden  and 
others,  207  ;  refers  Wentworth 
to  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  on 
his  earldom  disappointment, 
206 ;  Wentworth  to,  on  the 
state  of  his  health,  209 ;  on 
Wentworth's  sporting  pro- 
clivities, 212  ;  is  present  at  the 
council  which  decided  to  call 
an  English  parliament  concern- 
ing the  Scots  affair,  226 ;  is 
in  prison,  stripped  of  his 
power,  at  time  of  Strafford's 
trial,  255  ;  sees  Strafford  pass 
to  his  execution,  275 


INDEX. 


311 


Lawyers,  the  Irish  common,  re- 
ceive proofs  of  Wentworth's 
"care,"  174 

Layton,  Sir  Thomas,  his  action 
towards  Wentworth,  87,  89, 
90 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  congratulates 
Wentworth  on  his  third  mar- 
riage, 122 

Leighton,  a  Scotch  divine,  is 
horribly  mutilated  for  "  con- 
science sake,"  166 

Leland,  History  of  Ireland,  re- 
ferred to,  on  the  insecurity  of 
tenure  in  Ireland,  loi 

Levities,  Wentworth's,  124 

Life,  the  intensity  of,  not  its 
duration,  is  the  real  test,  197-8 

Lindsey,  Earl  of,  is  at  Strafford's 
trial,  as  high-steward  of  Eng- 
land, 244 

Linen-clothing,  Wentworth  is 
anxious  to  set  up  a  trade  of, 
in  Ireland,  183 

Loan,  Commissioners  for  the 
forced,  Wentworth's  letter  to, 
291  ;  loan  refused  by  City  of 
London,  xli 

Loftus,  Lady,  sues  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  through  Sir  John 
Giffard  and  Sir  Francis  Ruishe, 
for  an  "increase  of  portion," 
212;  her  parentage,  Ixix ; 
death,  Ixx 

Loftus,  Lord  Chancellor,  dis- 
agrees with  Strafford,  Ixx  ;  is 
deprived  of  the  seals,  and  con- 
demned to  prison,  214 

Loftus,  Sir  Adam,  proposes 
continuation  of  voluntary  con- 
tributions in  Ireland,  140  ;  per- 
suades the  (Irish)  privy  council 
to  grant  two  subsidies,  156 ; 
Wentworth  intends  him  to 
have  Mountnorris's  offices,  199 

Loftus,  Sir  R.,  is  one  of  those  who 
try  and  judge  Lord  Mount- 
norris,  193 

Lords,  a  party  in  the,  favourable 
to  Strafford,  xlix 


MacDiarmid,  Mr.  {Lives  of 
British  Statesmen),  4,  17 ; 
an  error  of  his  indicated,  94  ; 
his  summary  of  Wentworth's 
financial  measures  quoted,  206  ; 
is  mistaken  as  to  the  lady 
suing  the  Lord  Chancellor  for 
increase  of  portion,  212;  on 
Strafford's  trial,  250 

Madness,  Lord  Holland  insinu- 
ates Wentworth  is  subject  to 
occasional  touches  of,  208 

Man,  Pieter,  187 

Mansfield,  Lord,  his  letter  to 
Wentworth  on  Buckingham, 
48 

Margaret,  daughter  of  Earl  of 
Cumberland,  her  marriage  with 
the  Earl  in  161 1,  4 ;  her  death, 
32 

Marriage-bed,  fidelity  to,  123 

Marris,  Richard,  Wentworth's 
steward  in  Yorkshire,  185 

Maxwell,  James,  keeper  of  the 
Black  Rod,  demands  and  re- 
ceives Strafford's  sword,  240 

May,  the  historian,  on  Went- 
worth's return  to  England,  225  ; 
on  the  state  of  feeling  during 
the  trial,  256 

Monasteries,  the  scheme  for  the 
suppression  of,  under  Henry 
VIIL,  82 

Moore,  Lord,  is  one  of  the  coun- 
cillors who  try  Lord  Mount- 
norris,  193 

Mountjoy's,  Lord,  suppression  of 
the  Irish  chiefs,  99 

Mountnorris,  Lord,  vice-treasurer 
of  Ireland,  116;  his  comment 
respecting  the  stool  dropping 
incident,  his  trial,  and  his 
punishment  therefor,  193-4 

Mutilation,  horrible,  of  Leigh- 
ton,  a  Scotch  divine,  166 


Naas,  Wentworth  purposes  to 
build  a  palace  there  for  Charles, 
210 


312 


INDEX.' 


Nalson,  228  ;  on  Strafford's  trial, 

248,  250-51 
Napoleon  I,,  Browning  refers  to 

his  anger,  67 
Newburgh,  Lord,  busies  himself 

to  promote  a   pi-otege   in   the 

Irish  army,  80 
Newcastle,  Earl  of,  Wentworth's 

letter  to,  on   Weston's  death, 

177,  178 
Northumberland,      Lord,      Lord 

Conway  is  authorized  to  show  a 

letter  of  Wentworth's  to,  213  ; 

appointed  to  command  against 

Scotland,  but  is  too  ill  to  act, 

236 

O'Byrnes,  the  Wicklow  family  of, 
Wentworth  extracts  ;,^i5,ooo 
from  them,  206 

Ormond,  Earl  of  (the  young), 
insists  on  carrying  his  sword, 
157 

Osborne,  Edward,  selected  by 
Wentworth  as  his  vice-presi- 
dent, 113 

Overbury,  death  of,  30 

Palatine,  Prince,  xix 

Pale,  lords  of  the,  claim  right 
of  being  consulted  respecting 
Wentworth's  projected  Irish 
measures,    153 

Pan,  "  Pleasures  in  the  court  of 

Charles  I.  was   a  god  ," 

125 

Parliaments,  according  to  Charles, 
are  of  the  nature  of  cats,  they 
grow  cursed  with  age,  189 

Parsons,  Sir  William,  his  opinion 
on  the  voluntary  contributions, 
141 

Patents  of  monopolies,  remon- 
strated against,  14 

Patronage,    Wentworth   requests 

the  rendering  matters  of , 

&c.,  into  his  own  hands,  161 

Peace,  a  conclusion  of,  with 
France  and  Spain,  98 

Peerage,  honours  of  the,  sold,  i6 


Pennyman,  Sir  William,  is  en- 
trusted with  the  care  of  Went- 
worth's children,  92 

"Peril  of  my  head,  at,"  Went- 
worth's frequent  use  of  this 
phrase,  144,  164 

Petition  of  Right,  xxii 

Philips,  Sir  Robert,  41,  42 

"Pims,"    "Prynnes,   ,    and 

Bens,"   161 

Pirates,  the  Irish  Channel  in- 
fected with,  133 

Plumleigh,  Captain  (marine),  112, 

133 

Pontefract,  borough  of,  is  secured 
as  a  seat  for  Wentworth,  39 

Power,  abstract  veneration  for, 
Wentworth's,  64 ;  the  great 
law  of  Wentworth's  being,  144 

Powis,  Lord,  his  remark  on 
Wentworth's  being  made  Vis- 
count, 78 

Poynings,  Sir  Edward,  governor 
of  Ireland  under  Henry  VIT., 
procures  a  decree  from  the 
English  parliament  that  all  laws 
theretofore  enacted  in  Eng- 
land, should  have  equal  force 
in  Ireland  (afterwards  referred 
to  as  Poynings'  Act),  98,  99, 
144,  146,  158,  159,  161,  174 

President  of  the  North,  Went- 
worth's speech  when  he  first 
sate  as,  Appendix  11. ,  291 

Prince  Henry,  death  of,  30 

Privy  Seals,  the  issuing  of,  50 

Prynne,  Mr.,  21;  "Prynnes, 
Pims,  and  Bens,"  that  gener- 
ation of  odd  names  and  natures, 
161,  164;  a  prisoner  in  the 
Tower,  has  his  ears  seivcd  on, 
after  having  been  cut  off, 
166 

Purveyance,  James  I.  objects  to 
the  abolition  of,  15 

Pym,  21  ;  his  relations  with 
Strafford,  Ixii— Ixiv;  Lady  Car- 
lisle became  his  mistress  after 
Wentworth's  death,  129,  161  ; 
at  the  bar  of  the  House,  im- 


INDEX. 


313 


peaches  Strafford  of  high  trea- 
son, 240  ;  attacks  Strafibrd  at 
his  trial,  Ixv ;  his  previous 
meeting  with  Strafford  and  his 
parting  words  tliereat,  240, 
245  ;  on  his  reply  to  Strafford's 
defence,  261 — 63 

Raby,  Baron  of,  Wentworth  is, 
unsohcited,  created  Earl  of 
Strafford  and  Baron  of  Raby, 
226 

Radcliffe,  Sir  George,  personal 
attache  of  the  Earl,  3,  19  ;  on 
Wentworth's  leaving,  &c.,  65, 
66,  71,  120  ;  on  Wentworth's 
character  and  religion,  131  ; 
is  given  a  seat  in  the  privy 
council,  134,  150,  157  ;  on 
Wentworth's  deportment  in 
private  life,  189  ;  on  Went- 
worth's personal  habits  and 
temperance,  213 ;  is  himself 
charged  by  Pym  with  treason 
in  order  to  prevent  his  evidence 
helping  Strafford,  253  ;  Straf- 
ford writes  to  him  previous  to 
beiiig  executed,  274 ;  letters 
from  Strafford  to,  xxxix,  xliii, 
xlvi ;  his  Memoir  of  Strafford, 
xiv 

Ranelagh,  Lord,  118 

Ravillac,  the  French ?  6 

Religion,  conformity  of  Ireland 
with  England,  Wentworth 
determines  on,  167 

Rhodes,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Sir  Godfrey  Rhodes,  becomes 

'  Wentworth's  third  wife,  119, 
122 

Roch,  Lord,  Wentworth  on  his 
Weakness  of  character,  233 

Rockley,  Robin,  a  tenant  of 
Wentworth's  in  Yorkshire  ? 
185 

Roman  Catholics,  ascendancy  and 
conduct  of,  102  ;  public  exercise 
oftheir  religion  forbidden,  102  ; 
are  opposed  by  Viscount  Ely 
and  the  Earl  of  Cork,  103 


Rudyard,  Sir  Benjamin,  21 
Ruishe,  Sir  Francis,  sues  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  on  behalf  of 
Lady  Loftus,  212 
Rushworth  (the  clerk  of  parlia- 
ment) cited,  passim,  262  ;  on 
Strafford's  approach  to  the 
scaffold,  275  ;  is  on  the  scaffold 
at  the  execution,  276  ;  on  tlie 
last  moments  of  Strafford,  the 
execution,  277 

St.  Albans,  Lord,  his  caution,  233 

Salt,  a  necessity  to  Irish  manu- 
facturers, is  an  object  of  Went- 
worth's "care,"  183 

"Satisfaction,"  document  drawn 
up  by  the  Commons  and  pre- 
sented to  James  I. 

Satyr,   pleasure   in  the  court   of 

Charles  II.,  was  a  vulgar , 

124 

Savile,  Lord,  25  ;  Strafford's  es- 
pecial enemy,  intrigues  against 
him,  237 

Savile,  Sir  George,  Wentworth's 
brother-in-law,  23,  49 

Savile,  Sir  Henry,  70 

Savile,  Sir  John,  father  of  Lord 
Savile,  is  custos  rotulorum  for 
Yorkshire,  25  ;  succeeds  Went- 
worth as  custos  rottdorum,  45, 
50,  51,  72 

Savile,  Sir  W,,  Wentworth's 
nephew  and  ward,  letter  to,  64 

Scotch  enter  Newcastle,  xl 

Scottish  nation,  the  whole,  rises 
against  Charles,  on  account  of 
Laud's  religious  innovations, 
and  Wentworth's  energetic 
measures  to  subdue,  216-17 

Scroop,  Lord,  Earl  of  Sunder- 
land, W^entworth's  predecessor 
at  York,  84 

Seisin,  premier,  an  incident  in 
the  tenure  by  Knight  service,  1 5 

Services  to  the  King,  always 
remembered  by  Wentworth, 
156 

Seymour,  Sir  Francis,  41,  42 


314 


INDEX. 


Ship-money,  this  tax  had  been 
recently  levied,  xxxviii ;  Went- 
worth  collects  it  vigorously  in 
York,  202 

Silenus,  pleasure  in  the  court  of 
James  I.  was  a,  124 

Socage,  other  kinds  of  tenure  to 
be  changed  into  "free  and 
common,"  15 

Society,  foibles  of,  123 

Spain,  the  inglorious  peace  v^^ith, 
12,  98  ;  war  with,  contemplated 
by  Charles,  who  is  dissuaded 
therefrom  by  Went  worth,  215 

Stanhope,  Sir  Edward,  letter  to, 
on  court  intrigues  against  Went- 
worth,  94 

Star-chamber,  usurpations  of  the, 

30 

State  error,  the  fatal,  of  dissolving 

the  parliament  of  1640,  236 
Stuart,  Arabella,  death  of,  30 
Sunderland,   Lord  Scroop,   Earl 
of,  Wentworth's  predecessor  at 
York,  84 

Talbot,  Sir  Robert,  protests 
against  the  granting  of  two 
subsidies,  156 

Tankersly  Park,  Wentworth 
writes  to  Mr.  Greenwood  con- 
cerning, 185 

Theological  strife,  Wentworth 
knows  tlie  uselessness  of,  166 

"Thorough,"  Laud  was  bent 
upon  going,  regarding  supre- 
macy of  ecclesiastical  power, 

163 

Tobacco,  Wentworth  "farms," 
the  tax  on,  180 ;  monopoly, 
Wentworth  was  open  to  grave 
charges  respecting  the,  211-12 

"  Trouts,"  Laud's  name  for  Irish- 
men, being  "  tickled  out  of 
their  money,"  167 

"  Tyranny,"  appeal  from,  to 
God,  278 

"Undertakers,"  a  confederacy 
for  influencing  the  elections,  24 


Usher,  the  learned,  surrenders 
the  "ecclesiastical  articles"  he 
had  forwarded  to  Ireland,  174 

Vandyke,  Sir  Anthony's  unlucky 
courtships,  130 ;  Wentworth 
discusses  with  him  on  various 
marbles,  189  ;  Wentworth  re- 
fers to  his  art,  205  ;  portrait  by, 
of  Wentworth  and  his  children 
referred  to,  221 

Vane,  Sir  Harry,  the  treasurer  of 
the  King's  household,  Went- 
worth writes  to,  on  the  Scotch 
disquiet,  217,  226,  237  ;  senior 
and  junior,  256-7;  "dreamy 
aspirings,"  278 

Vere,  Sir  Horace,  33 

Vermuyden,   1 73 

Vernon  (Justice)  opposes  Went- 
worth's restrictions  on  Irish 
litigants,  115 

"  Villanous  juggle,"  Wentworth's, 
on  the  two  sessions  of  his  pro- 
posed Irish  parliament,  149 

Villiers,  rapid  rise  of,  30 

Waller,  Edmund,  the  poet,  called 
Lady  Carlisle  "the  bright 
Carlisle,"  129 

Wandesford,  Sir  Chr.,  19,  35, 
38,  43,  49,  52,  53,  71,  81,  84, 
96  ;  is  a  privy  councillor,  134, 
150,  157  ;  administers  in  Ire- 
land whilst  Wentworth  is  in 
England,  200 ;  Wentworth 
arranges  to  place  his  Govern- 
ment in  the  hands  of,  whilst 
away  in  England,  220 

Warwick,  Sir  Peter,  his  descrip- 
tion of  Strafford,  Ivi — Iviii 

Weakness  and  insincerity  of 
Charles,  Wentworth  distrusts 
the,  137 

Welwood's  Memoirs,  Ixii 

Wentworth,  Darcy,  187 

Wentworth,  Michael,  fifth  brother 
of  Strafford,  33 

Wentworth,  Sir  George,  Straf- 
ford's brother,  is  with  him  on 


INDEX. 


315 


the  scaffold,  275-6  ;  Strafford's 
farewell  to  him,  276-7 
Wentworth,  Thomas,  Earl  of 
Strafford :  born  in  London  in 
I593>  I  ;  his  ancestry  and 
estates,  1-2;  early  education, 
goes  to  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  2  ;  letter  to  provost 
and  fellows  of  his  old  college, 
3  ;  his  knighthood  (which  was 
doubtless  purchased),  4 ;  his 
relations  with  Pym,  Ixii — Ixiv  ; 
his  early  independence,  his  en- 
gagement to,  and  marriage  in 
161 1  with,  Margaret,  daughter 
of  the  Earl  of  Cumberland,  4  ; 
goes  to  France  and  Venice,  5  ; 
his  friendship  with  Sir  Henry 
Wotton,  5 ;  his  return  to 
England  from  the  Continent, 
is  made  knight  of  the  shire  for 
Yorkshire,  17  ;  the  nature  of 
his  MSS.  called  the  "  Strafford 
Papers,"  19  ;  letter  to  his  tutor, 
Mr.  Greenwood,  21-2  ;  is  re- 
turned to  parliament  in  1614 
for  Yorkshire,  23  ;  returns  to 
his  Yorkshire  residence,  25  ;  is 
appointed  Ctistos  Rohdortini  for 
Yorkshire  in  1615,  xvii,  26  ;  re- 
commences his  election  cam- 
paign, 28  ;  letter  to  his  brother- 
in-law,  Lord  Clifford,  31 ;  letter 
to  Lord  D'Arcy  on  the  dissolu- 
tion of  James'  second  parlia- 
ment, 32  ;  is  ill  of  fever  in  1622, 
32  ;  as  is  also  his  wife  the  Lady 
Margaret,  who  dies  therefrom, 
32  ;  exerts  himself  in  behalf  of 
his  brothers,  32-3 ;  letter  to 
Sir  George  Calvert,  35-7 ;  is 
again  ill,  recovers,  and  goes  to 
London,  38  ;  his  desire  to  *'  ex- 
hibit himself"  personally  to 
the  new  King,  Charles  L,  38; 
marries,  for  his  second  wife. 
Lady  Arabella  Hollis,  younger 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Clare, 
38  ;  his  election  as  member  for 
Yorkshire    disputed,     38 ;     is 


thrown  out  of  parliament,  39  ; 
Pontefract  is  secured  as  a  seat 
for  him,  in  case  of  re-defeat  in 
Yorkshire,  39  ;  is  made  sheriff 
of  Yorkshire,  40  ;  writes  to  his 
father-in-law,  Lord  Clare,  is 
dismissed  from  his  office  of 
Ctistos  Rotjiloruvi^  44-5  ;  letter 
thereon  to  Sir  Richard  Weston, 
45-6  ;  his  letter  thereon  to  the 
Earl  of  Buckingham,  Appendix 
IL,  287;  letter  to  Weston 
on  Charles'  indifference  to  him, 
47-8 ;  his  dilemma  as  to  a 
"privy  seal,"  50-1  ;  refuses 
to  lend  money  (to  the  Govern- 
ment ?),  52  ;  and  is  committed 
to  the  Marshalsea  (therefor?), 
52 ;  has  already  had  a  son 
(William)  born  to  him,  and 
whilst  a  prisoner  at  Dartford, 
a  daughter  (Anne)  is  born,  52  ; 
his  meeting  with  other  re- 
cusants, 53-5  ;  his  speeches  in 
the  house,  56-7  ;  and  con- 
sequent favour  at  court,  58  ;  is 
created  Baron  Wentworth  on 
14th  July,  1628,  though  he  had 
stipulated  to  be  made  Viscount, 
xxiii,  58  ;  estimate  of  Went- 
worth's  opening  passages  in  his 
political  career,  he  was  con- 
sistent to  himself  throughout, 
58 — 62  ;  his  love  for  his  college 
at  Cambridge,  63 ;  and  his 
esteem  for  his  old  tutor,  Mr. 
Greenwood,  64;  his  "abstract 
veneration  for  power,"  64  ;  let- 
ter to  his  nephew,  64-5  ;  his 
learning,  66  ;  had  a  passionate 
temper,  66  ;  letters  respecting 
election  as  knight  of  the  shire, 
69 — 77  ;  is  made  Viscount 
Wentworth  and  president  of 
the  North,  xxiii,  78  ;  his  letter 
to  Lord  Conway,  asking  for 
this  post,  Appendix  IL,  290; 
his  opinion  on  this  matter  of 
place,  a  womanly  thing,  79  ; 
is  indifferent  to  the  opinions  of 


3i6 


INDEX. 


his  opponents,  7980;  one  of 
his  first  announcements  on 
being  made  president  of  the 
North,  83  ;  his  first  speech  as 
president  of  the  North,  Ap- 
pendix II.,  291  ;  "absokite 
government "  was  Wentworth's 
notion  of  "doing  good,"  84; 
his  treatment  of  Henry  Bellasis, 
son  of  Lord  Faulconberg,  85- 
6 ;  and  ditto  of  Sir  David 
Foulis  and  Sir  Thomas  Layton, 
86-8  ;  their  punishment,  90  ; 
his  care  for  his  children,  92  ; 
his  third  child  (Thomas)  Isorn, 
and  dies,  93-4  ;  his  fourth  child 
(Arabella)  born,  94  ;  his  second 
wife  dies,  94  ;  intrigues  against 
Wentworth  at  court,  94-6  ; 
letter  to  Weston  on  the  intrigues, 
&c.,  96-7  ;  his  arrival  in  London 
exploded  the  attempts  at  court 
against  him,  97  ;  is  appointed 
Governor  of  Ireland,  xxiii,  98  ; 
receives  his  commission  therefor 
early  in  1632,  104  ;  his  dispatch 
thereon  to  Lord  Cottington, 
104,  105  ;  sends  a  Roman 
Catholic  envoy  secretly  to  Ire- 
land, 107  ;  his  letter  to  Lords 
Ely  and  Cork,  on  their  neglect 
of  Charles's  instructions,  108  ; 
on  Charles's  express  pleasure 
regarding  Irish  suits,  &c.,  no, 
III;  letters  to  Irish  parliament, 
xxix,  XXX ;  the  powers,  &c., 
demanded  by  Wentworth, 
112;  resolved  not  to  resign 
the  presidency  of  Yorkshire, 
114;  presses  for  settlement 
of  his  dispute  with  Lord 
Faulconberg,  115;  wrests 
from  Irishmen  their  privilege 
of  protection  in  Westminster 
Hall,  and  his  letter  to  Cotting- 
ton thereon,  1 15;  proposition 
is  made  that  he  marry  the 
daughter  of  Lord  Cork  (the 
Earl  of?),  118;  enters  on  a 
purchase   of  (?  for)   ;^  14,000, 


119;  is  at  this  time  privately 
married  (to  his  third  wife)  to 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir 
Godfrey  Rhodes,  119 — 121  ; 
Wentworth's  fifth  child, 
"Tom,"  was  born,  Sep.  17th, 
1634  (child  died  in  infancy), 
121;  Wentworth's  sixth  child,  a 
girl,  is  born,  121  ;  his  personal 
vices  and  virtues,  125  ;  his 
"fidelity"  to   his  wives,    125, 

126  ;  his  personal  appearance, 

127  ;  his  court  amours,  128, 
129  ;  his  energy  and  dispatch, 
132  ;  arrives  in  Dublin,  July 
1633,  135  ;  institutes  court 
ceremonial  there,  135  ;  his 
first  dispatch  therefrom,  136  ; 
distrusts  the  weakness  and 
insincerity  of  Charles,  137 ; 
resumes  the  privilege  of  super- 
seding the  common  law  courts 
in  private  civil  causes,  138  ; 
Wentworth  "was  a  despot," 
138 ;  secures  the  prohibition 
ot  departure  from  Ireland,  by 
the  nobility,  139  ;  calls  his  first 
privy  council,  139  ;  conduct  of 
debate  in  council,  140 ;  had 
resolved  to  make  Ireland  a 
slave,  142  ;  his,  and  Charles's, 
views  on  parliaments,  142 — 
144  ;  writes  to  Cooke  on  an 
Irish  parliament,  145  ;  proposes 
to  call  an  Irish  parliament,  147, 
148  ;  issues  writs  for  his  first 
Irish  parliament,  149 ;  Irish 
House  of  Commons  assemble, 
July  1634,  154;  Wentworth's 
speech  to  them,  154;  his 
policy  to  set  the  commons  and 
peers  against  each  other,  157; 
conclusion  of  his  Irish  Parlia- 
ment's first  session,  158;  the 
second  session,  159;  his  passion 
for  hunting  and  hawking,  159  ; 
flings  his  influence  amongst  the 
Protestants,  160;  the  "two 
ends"  he  had  his  "eye  on," 
respecting  the  Irish  parliament 


INDEX. 


317 


and  Chailes,  160  ;  his  friend- 
ship with  Laud,  Ixvi,  162  ;  his 
reply  to  Laud's  criticism  on  his 
"ifs,"i64;  his  object  in  Ireland 
is  to  raise  "a  good  revenue 
to  the  crown/'  166  ;  determines 
to  draw  Ireland  into  religions 
conformity  with  England,  167 
— 169 ;  he  solicits,  and  is  re- 
fused, an  earldom,  172;  his 
disappointment  thereat  is 
shown  in  a  dispatch  to 
Chanc.  Cottington,  174;  turns 
his  attention  to  the  Irish 
lawyers,  174,  and  to  the  Irish 
soldiers,  175;  has  a  troop  at 
his  own  cost,  1 74-5  ;  is  foiled 
hy  the  indolent  envy  of  his 
English  coadjutors,  176;  fears 
he'll  have  the  post  of  Lord 
Treasurer,  vacant  by  Weston's 
death,  offered  to  him,  177  ; 
the  Irish  customs  increase 
rapidly,  179  ;  improves  mer- 
cantile and  other  Irish  trade, 
179;  taxes  tobacco,  180; 
introduces  flax  and  manufac- 
tures it,  182 ;  writes  to  Mr. 
Greenwood  respecting  his 
Yorkshire  estates,  185  ;  writes 
for  copies  of  Dr.  Donne's 
poetry,  which  he  was 
amazingly  fond  of,  188  ;  de- 
clares province  of  Connaught, 
with  others,  to  have  lapsed  ab- 
solutely to  the  crown,  190-2 ; 
his  treatment  of  Lord  Mount- 
norris,  193-4  ;  writes  to  Secre- 
tary Cooke  thereon,  195-6;  is 
clearly  well  versed  in  Shak- 
speare,  Chaucer,  and  Donne's 
works,  196  ;  his  view  on  the 
value  of  life,  197  ;  appears  at 
the  English  court  in  May, 
1636,  129  ;  his  colonies  in  Ire- 
land, XXXV  ;  repeats  the  story 
of  his  Irish  successes  at  a  very 
full  court  at  Charles's  request, 
200-1  ;  he  collects,  vigor- 
ously, ship-money  in  Yorkshire, 


202 ;  applies  for  the  second 
time  to  Charles  for  an  earldom, 
and  is  for  the  second  time 
refused,  203  ;  consoles  himself 
thereon  in  letters  to  Butler 
and  Laud,  204-5  J  he  returns 
to  Ireland,  206 ;  foresees  trouble 
in  the  news  he  is  receiving  from 
England,  the  popular  party 
therein  are  loud  and  violent  in 
their  clamour  against  him,  207  ; 
writes  to  Charles  on  these 
symptoms,  and  on  Lord 
Holland's  insinuations  as  to 
his  occasional  insanity,  208  ; 
and  of  his  "  hypochondriack 
humours,"  208 ;  his  growing 
ill-health,  209  ;  his  magnificent 
mode  of  life,  2 10- 11  ;  was 
"exceeding  temperate  "  in  the 
pleasures  of  the  table — "he 
was  never  drunk  in  his  life," 
213  ;  his  opinions  on  war  with 
Spain,  xix  ;  the  Queen's  grow- 
ing disfavour  of  him,  215-16  ; 
his  strenuous  and  energetic 
measures,  respecting  Charles's 
dispute  with  Scotland,  216-17  ; 
Charles  desires  his  presence  in 
England,  220  ;  arrives  in  Lon- 
don in  November  1639,  forms  a 
"cabinet  council"  along  with 
Laud  and  Hamilton,  to  discuss 
the  measures  to  be  taken 
against  the  Scots,  xxxvi,  225  ; 
subscribes  ;^ 20, 000  to  a  loan 
therefor,  225  ;  is,  unsolicited, 
created  Earl  of  Strafford  and 
Baron  of  Raby,  is  styled  lord- 
lieutenant,  or  lieutenant-gen- 
eral of  Ireland,  xxxvii,  226  ; 
writes  to  Cooke  on  his  physical 
infirmities,  227 ;  arrives  back 
in  Ireland,  March  1640,  227  ; 
writes  to  the  King  on  his  health, 
&c..  Good  Friday,  1640  ;  and 
returns  to  England,  arriving 
at  Chester,  4th  April,  1640,  in 
very  bad  health,  230  ;  seizes  a 
Scotch  vessel  at  Nesson,  232  ; 


3i8 


INDEX. 


letter  to  Windebank,  233  ; 
Charles  expresses  his  anxiety  re- 
specting Strafford's  health,  236 ; 
Strafford  takes  his  seat  in  the 
Lords  in  the  new  parliament, 
which  was  abruptly  dissolved,  is 
appointed  to  command  against 
Scotland  in  place  of  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  xxxvii,  236  ; 
has  Order  of  the  Garter,  xxxvii ; 
leaves  Ireland,  to  aid  the  king, 
xxxix ;  proceeds,  though  ex- 
ceedingly ill,  northwards  against 
the  Scots,  falls  back  on  York, 
xxxix,  237  ;  from  this  time  he 
sank  daily,  intrigues  against 
him  are  carried  on  by  Holland, 
Hamilton,  Vane,  and  Lord 
Savile,  237  ;  unknown  to  Straf- 
ford, a  treaty  with  the  Scots  is 
commenced,  237-8  ;  is  ordered 
by  Charles  to  cease  operations 
against  Scotland,  and  a  new 
parliament  is  summoned,  239  ; 
is  summoned  to  London,  xlii ; 
Strafford  perceives  his  danger- 
ous position,  and  requests  leave 
to  return  to  Ireland,  the  request 
refused  ;  Charles  assures  Straf- 
ford that  not  a  hair  of  his  head 
should  be  touched,  he  returns 
to  London,  239  ;  proceeds  to 
the  houses  of  parliament,  and  is 
there  impeached  of  high  treason 
by  Pym,  240  ;  his  reflections 
on  his  changed  position,  241-2  ; 
letter  to  his  wife  thereon,  242  ; 
is  committed  to  the  Tower,  xlv, 
242  ;  Bill  of  Attainder,  xlvii ; 
particulars  of  the  preparations 
for  the  trial,  244  ;  files  his  an- 
swers to  the  charges  against  him, 
24th  Feb.,  1641,  245  ;  letter  to 
his  wife  on  the  charges,  245  ; 
Strafford's  chief  offence  was  the 
"attempt  to  subvert  the  funda- 
mental laws  of  the  country," 
245-6 ;  the  general  charges 
against  him,  245-8  ;  his  replies 
thereto,   249-50 ;    Pym  opens 


the  case  against  him  in  West- 
minster Hall,  23rd  March, 
1641,  250  ;  letter  from  Charles, 
assuring  Strafford  that  he 
*'  shall  not  suffer  in  life,  honour 
or  fortune,"  252  ;  Strafford  on 
his  defence,  253,  257 — 260  ;  is 
condemned,  263  ;  a  bill  of  at- 
tainder is  introduced,  236,  and 
passed,  264  ;  releases  the  King 
from  his  pledged  word,  266  ; 
petitions  the  Lords  on  behalf 
of  his  children,  writes  to  his 
wife,  and  to  his  eldest  son, 
William,  272-4  ;  concern  for 
his  family  and  friends  only  dis- 
turbs his  last  hours,  274  ;  re- 
quests the  prayers  of  Laud, 
and  that  he  will  be  at  his 
window  as  Strafford  passes  to 
execution,  274  ;  his  deportment 
on  the  way  to,  and  on,  the  scaf- 
fold, 275-6  ;  his  farewell  to  his 
brother  and  to  his  friends,  his 
final  declaration  in  his  belief  of 
the  good  of  parliaments,  276 ; 
his  execution,  12th  May,  1 641, 
liv,  Iv,  Ixii,  277  ;  his  speech  on 
the  scaffold,  xxiv ;  the  most 
severe  consequences  to  his  chil- 
dren are  mitigated  within  a  few 
weeks  of  his  death,  and  in  the 
succeeding  reign  the  attainder 
was  reversed  and  his  son  re- 
stored to  the  earldom,  277-8  ; 
Strafford's  dispatch  to  Charles, 
giving  his  "humble  opinion 
concerning  a  parliament "  in 
Ireland,  Appendix  L,  279 — 
285  ;  paper  containing  the 
"heads  of  Strafford's  last 
speech,"  as  left  (and  found) 
upon  the  scaffold,  286  ;  se- 
lected papers  and  letters  by 
Strafford,  Appendix  II.,  287 — 
302  ;  Dr.  Knowler's  selection, 
xiv 
Wentworth,  Sir  William,  the 
Earl's  father,  i — 4 ;  his  death 
in  1614,  23 


INDEX. 


319 


Weston,  Sir  Richard,  Chancellor 
of  Exchequer,  and  Lord  Trea- 
surer to  Charles  I.,  letters  by 
Wentworth  to,   xxvi,    45,    48, 

58,  81,  84,  90,  94,  96,  137 ; 

Lord  Cork  appeals  to,  against 
Wentworth,  165  ;  is  jealous  of 
Wentworth's  friendship  with 
Laud,  176;  his  death,  177 
**  Whitelock's  Memorials,"  on 
Strafford's  death.  Hi  ;  on  Straf- 
ford's appearance  during  the 
trial,  250  ;  on  the  Vane  papers 
incident,  257 


Williams,  Archbishop,  the  in- 
triguing, 49 

Wills,  statutes  of,  and  uses,  in- 
troduced into  Ireland,  180 

Wind,  Sir  Robert,  hawks  with 
Wentworth,  159 

Windebank,  Mr.  Secretary,  to 
Wentworth,  on  his  policy  re- 
specting the  English  aris- 
tocracy, 172;  hints  to  Went- 
worth of  his  impending  danger, 
219,  226,  233 

Wotton,  Sir  Henry,  a  friend  of 
the  Earl,  5 


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